COLUMBIA  UBRARIES  OFFSITE 

HEALTH  SCIENCES  STANDARD 


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College  of  $i)2>£iician£i  anb  burgeons 


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HEALTH  AT  HOME. 


BY 


A.  H.  GUERNSEY, 

AND 

IREN^IJS  P.   DAVIS,   M.D., 

AUTHOR   OP    "hygiene   FOR   GIRLS." 


NEW   YORK: 
D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY, 

1,  3,  AND    5   BOND    STEEET. 

1884. 


05  ^^ 


COPTEIGHT,  1884, 

Bt  d.  appleton  and  company. 


C  O  I*^  T  E  IJ5"  T  S 


PAGE 

I. — Home  SrEEOUNDiNGS       .            .            .            .  .5 

II. — Privies  and  Water- Closets            .            .            .  18 

III. — The  House  Itself            .            .            .            .  .23 

lY. — The  Air  we  Breathe           .            .            .            .  33 

Y. — The  Water  we  Drink   .             .            .            .  .41 

YI.— The  Food  we  Eat    .....  47 

YII. — LiaHTiNa  and  Warming.            .            .            .  .64 

Yin. — Disinfectants            .....  74 

IX. — The  Bedrooms     .            .            .            .            .  .82 

X. — The  Clothing  we  Wear      ....  92 

XL — Personal  Habits            .            .            .            .  .106 

XII. — Household  Practice            .            .            .            .  117 

XIII. — Poisons  and  Antidotes  ....  129 

XIY. — Accidents  and  Emergencies            .            .            .  148 


HEALTH  AT  HOME. 


I. 
HOME  SUEEOUNDINGS. 

The  habitual  condition  of  a  home  should  be  one  of 
health,  and  to  secure  this  it  is  quite  as  necessary  that  a 
due  care  be  had  for  its  surroundings  as  that  the  building 
be  properly  heated  and  ventilated,  and  its  inmates  supplied 
with  suitable  food  and  clothing,  accustomed  to  correct  per- 
sonal habits,  and  skillfully  treated  in  case  of  sickness  or 
accident. 

By  the  surroundings  of  a  home'  are  meant  all  that  per- 
tains to  it  lying  without  the  building  itself.  The  homes  of 
which  we  speak  may  be  divided  into  three  general  classes, 
which  of  necessity  vary  materially  in  the  character  of  their 
surroundings; 

I.  OouKTRY  Homes. — In  this  class  the  builder  is  pre- 
sumed to  have  a  considerable  quantity  of  land,  so  that  he 
has  a  wide  choice  in  the  selection  of  a  site,  as  well  as  in  the 
arrangement  of  all  his  immediate  surroundings.  He  must 
do  almost  everything  for  himself,  and  may  do  it  as  he 
pleases,  without  much  regard  for  his  neighbors.  But,  if 
they  can  not  essentially  discommode  him,  they  can  do  very 
little  to  aid  him.     He  must,  for  example,  find  his  own 


6  EEALTE  AT  SOME. 

spring,  or  dig  his  own  well,  build  his  own  cistern,  and 
make  his  own  system  of  drains.  If  the  water  for  domestic 
purposes  must  be  obtained  from  a  natural  spring,  the  selec- 
tion of  a  site  for  the  house,  and  all  the  arrangements  of 
the  homestead,  will  be  in  no  small  measure  shaped  by  this. 
The  spring  should  be  on  a  higher  level  than  the  outlet  of 
any  drain  leading  from  the  house  or  barn.  If  possible,  it 
should  be  on  a  higher  level  than  the  foundation  of  either 
house  or  barn,  to  avoid  'the  chance  of  organic  matter  from 
these  places  percolating  through  the  soil  into  it,  though,  to 
place  a  house  on  low  or  marshy  ground  in  order  to  effect 
this,  is  to  incur  one  evil  in  avoiding  another. 

The  natural  drainage  of  the  ground,  always  an  impor- 
tant feature  in  the  surroundings  of  a  home,  is  more  im- 
portant in  connection  with  a  country  home  than  with  any 
other,  because,  while  much  can  be  done  by  artificial  drain- 
age, any  system  adequate  to  supply  a  natural  lack  in  this 
particular  must  be  more  extensive  than  usually  comes 
within  the  means  of  the  individual  householder.  Natural 
drainage  depends  chiefly  on  the  slope  of  the  surface  and 
the  character  of  the  subsoil.  The  most  desirable  subsoil 
on  this  account  is  a  porous  one,  as  sand  or  gi'avel — such  a 
subsoil  as  farmers  call  *'leachy."     The  worst  is  clay. 

For  farming  purposes  the  relative  desirability  of  these 
different  soils  is  nearly  reversed,  so  that  it  often  happens 
that  the  spot  chosen  above  all  for  its  fertility  is  the  very 
worst  in  point  of  health.  It  seems  as  if  the  primal  curse 
had  not  only  sowed  the  fertile  fields  with  thorns  and  this- 
tles, but  had  also  shadowed  with  sickness  the  homes  of  the 
tillers  of  those  fields  in  proportion  to  their  fertility.  The 
sterile  hills  of  New  England  are  in  general  more  healthful 
than  the  fertile  valleys  of  the  Middle  States,  the  savannas 
of  the  South,  or  the  prairies  of  the  "West. 

Commencing  in  middle  New  Jersey,  and  extending 
southward  near  the  Atlantic  coast,  is  an  extensive  tract 


HOME  SURROUNDINGS.  7 

commonly  known  as  ^'^The  Pines/'  on  account  of  the  tim- 
ber by  which  it  is  mainly  coyered.  The  inhabitants  of 
this  region,  who  try  to  live  by  farming,  are  wretchedly 
poor,  and  their  domestic  animals  are  small,  thin,  and  hun- 
gry-looking, but  the  region  is  notably  healthful.  This  fact 
is  often  attributed  to  the  exhalations  from  the  pine-trees, 
and  possibly  with  some  reason,  though  it  is  noteworthy 
that  the  land,  while  most  of  it  is  low  and  leyel,  and  much 
of  it  swampy,  is  nearly  all  sand  or  gravel.  Here  and  there 
are  small  spots  having  a  clay  subsoil,  and  on  these  malarial 
disorders  abound,  from  which  the  surrounding  districts  are 
comparatively  free. 

The  best  site  is  a  hill-side,  with  a  southern  or  a  western 
exposure,  rather  than  a  northern  or  an  eastern  one.  The 
hill-side,  besides  other  advantages,  furnishes  facilities  for 
carrying  off  the  drainage  of  the  house  and  its  appurte- 
nances. It  would  seem  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  barns 
and  other  out-buildings,  cattle-yards,  etc.,  should  always  be 
a  little  down  the  hill  from  the  house,  were  it  not  for  the 
fact  that  these  are  sometimes  seen  on  the  higher  part  of 
the  premises. 

Supposing,  however,  that  the  location  is  already  chosen, 
and  the  house  and  principal  out-buildings  are  erected,  there 
are  many  circumstances  relating  to  the  surroundings  that 
require  attention. 

An  excellent  suggestion  relative  to  a  house  built  on  a 
hill-side  is  made  in  ^^  Building  a  Home,"  one  of  Appletons' 
''Home  Books."  It  is  that  a  trench  should  be  dug,  about 
ten  or  fifteen  feet  above  the  house,  four  feet  wide,  and  deep 
enough  to  be  lower  than  the  cellar-bottom.  It  should  be 
about  twice  the  length  of  the  house,  so  that  its  ends  may 
project  some  distance  beyond  the  line  of  the  wall  of  the 
house  on  each  side,  and  it  should  run  obliquely  down  the 
hill,  so  that  its  lower  end  will  reach  a  point  as  low  as  the 
upper  wall  of  the  house.     This  trench  is  to  be  filled  with 


8  EEALTE  AT  EOME. 

round  or  broken  stones,  the  larger  ones  at  the  bottom.  It 
may  then  be  covered  over.  Its  use  is  to  prevent  any  drain- 
age from  the  upper  part  of  the  hill  from  reaching  the 
foundation  of  the  house.  If  the  soil  in  which  the  trench 
is  dug  is  sandy  or  gravelly,  and  free  from  springs  or  streams 
of  water,  it  will  answer  its  purpose  tolerably  without  any 
outlet,  as  the  water  that  collects  in  it  will  percolate  through 
the  porous  soil  beneath  the  cellar-bottom.  If,  however,  the 
soil  is  clayey  or  wet,  it  will  be  necessary  to  make  a  suffi- 
cient drain  from  the  lower  end  of  the  trench  to  conduct  off 
the  water,  and  discharge  it  at  some  point  below  the  house. 

The  latter  precaution  is  a  very  important  one,  whatever 
the  nature  of  the  soil,  if  there  is  above  the  house  another 
house,  a  barn,  or  any  other  source  of  drainage  more  objec- 
tionable than  rain-water. 

The  growth  of  vegetation  outside  of  a  house  is  generally 
favorable  to  health,  as  in  the  process  various  noxious  mate- 
rials are  taken  from  the  air  and  the  soil  to  form  new  and 
healthful  combinations  in  the  plant.  The  decay  of  vegeta- 
tion, however,  is  exceedingly  detrimental  to  health.  For 
this  reason  it  is  very  important  in  the  neighborhood  of 
dwellings  to  remove  accumulations  of  fallen  leaves,  rank 
growths  of  grass,  etc.,  before  they  have  time  to  decay. 

It  has  been  very  generally  supposed  that  the  cause  of 
malaria  exists  principally  in  the  rapid  decay  of  the  rank 
and  succulent  vegetation  common  to  swamps.  Certain  it 
is  that  malarial  diseases  abound  on  newly-worked  soils  con- 
taining much  vegetable  matter  to  decay,  and  especially  in 
situations  where  heat  and  moisture,  the  conditions  most 
favorable  to  such  decay,  exist.  Equally  certain  is  it  that 
with  the  progress  of  agricultural  industry  these  diseases 
commonly  diminish ;  that,  when  repeated  turnings  of  the 
soil  and  successive  removals  of  crops  have  lessened  and 
changed  the  accumulated  vegetable  mold  of  centuries, 
when  the  swamps  themselves  are  drained  and  mowed,  and 


HOME  SURROUNDINGS.  9 

even  the  leaves  fallen  by  the  road-side  are  raked  up  and 
carted  away,  in  many  localities  they  almost  or  quite  disap- 
pear. 

The  vicinity  of  streams  or  other  small  bodies  of  water 
is  sometimes  unhealthful,  but  not  always.  The  water  in 
itself  is  advantageous  on  many  accounts,  provided  it  is  not 
stagnant  or  loaded  with  impurities.  A  stagnant  pool  in  the 
neighborhood  of  a  house  should  be  drained,  or  the  house 
should  be  deserted.  The  danger  to  health  from  streams 
and  ponds  not  stagnant  arises  principally  from  two  causes. 
One  is  the  decaying  organic  matter  coming  from  the  various 
drains,  swamps,  and  other  undesirable  sources  that  swell  the 
volume  of  the  water,  or  from  impurities  incidentally  intro- 
duced into  the  main  stream  or  pond.  The  other  cause  is 
the  occasional  ebb  and  flow  of  the  water  upon  its  banks. 
There  is  much  organic  matter  in  the  mud  at  the  bottom  of 
nearly  every  pond  or  considerable  stream.  This  matter  can 
do  little  or  no  harm  while  it  is  covered  by  running  water, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  is  useful  in  supplying  food  to  certain 
fishes  and  plants,  by  which  means  it  is  gradually  removed. 
If  the  water  recedes,  however,  and  leaves  this  mud  exposed 
to  the  warm  rays  of  the  sun,  decomposition  of  its  organic 
matter  is  hastened,  while  the  noxious  particles,  instead  of 
furnishing  needful  food  to  plants  or  fishes,  float  out  into 
the  air  to  poison  human  beings. 

Again,  if  the  water  overflows  its  usual  boundaries,  it 
stops  the  outflow  of  many  natural  and  artificial  drains, 
forms  pools  of  stagnant  water  along  its  borders,  and  occa- 
sions the  death  and  decay  of  much  vegetation. 

For  these  reasons  a  pond  or  stream  that  varies  much  in 
height  at  different  seasons,  especially  if  it  has  a  muddy 
bottom,  IS  far  more  unsafe  than  one  that  remains  always 
at  about  the  same  level.  Indeed,  it  will  sometimes  be  a 
decidedly  healthful  proceeding  to  convert  a  swampy  place 
into  a  pond  by  means  of  a  dam,  and  thus  drown 


10  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

*'  All  the  infections  that  the  sun  sucks  up 
From  bogs,  fens,  flats." 

It  is  necessary,  howeyer,  to  be  sure  that  the  water-sup- 
ply is  sufficient  to  keep  the  pond  always  full  and  to  preyent 
stagnation.  The  end  sought  will  be  more  readily  attained 
if  the  pond  is  stocked  with  fish  or  water-fowl,  or  both,  as 
these  will  do  much  in  remoying  the  organic  matter  that 
might  otherwise  be  harmful.  Swans  are  said  to  be  pecul- 
iarly useful  in  this  way.  ^ 

A  few  trees  are  desirable  about  a  house,  but  too  many 
are  an  injury.  Many  country  houses  are  rendered  yery  un- 
healthful  by  being  too  much  shaded.  The  trees  should  be 
so  arranged  that  there  may  be  a  free  circulation  of  air  about 
the  house,  and  that  the  sun  may  shine  directly  on  eyery 
possible  part  of  its  exterior  for  at  least  an  hour  at  some 
time  during  the  day. 

II.  Village  ajtd  Subuebak  Homes. — In  this  class 
the  occupant  has  less  space  at  his  control,  and  must  be  ruled 
yery  much  by  what  his  neighbors  haye  done  or  haye  the 
right  of  doing.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  neighbors  may 
unite  to  do  many  things  of  use  to  all,  but  which  no  one  of 
them  could  do  singly.  Thus,  for  example,  a  group  of 
neighbors,  acting  either  for  themselyes  or  through  municipal 
organizations,  may  erect  water- works,  which,  at  a  cost  small 
for  each  member,  shall  furnish  an  abundant  and  unfailing 
supply  of  this  prime  necessity  of  life. 

The  considerations  relatiye  to  the  surroundings  of  a 
country  home  are  in  many  respects  applicable  to  a  yillage 
home.  The  points  of  similarity  are  sufficiently  obyious, 
but  there  are  some  yarying  conditions  worth  noting. 

There  is  comparatiyely  little  choice  in  the  location  of 
the  house  relatiye  to  the  character  of  the  soil,  the  slope  of 
the  surface,  or  the  points  of  the  compass.  In  regard  to  the 
last  particular,  indeed,  a  choice  may  be  insisted  on  if  de- 
sired, for  there  is  no  absolute  necessity  that  a  house  shall 


SOME  SUER0UBDING8.  11 

face  the  street,  or  eyen  that  its  walls  shall  stand  parallel 
and  at  right  angles  with  the  street,  and  frequently  comfort 
and  health  will  be  subserved  by  a  different  arrangement. 
Yet  it  is  generally  found  most  convenient  to  build  a  village 
house  with  reference  to  the  direction  of  the  street  rather 
than  of  the  prevailing  winds  and  the  sun,  in  consequence 
of  which  the  arrangement  of  tree-screens  sometimes  becomes 
more  important  than  it  would  otherwise  be.  For  this  pur- 
pose various  evergreens  are  eminently  desirable,  because 
their  foliage  remains  through  the  winter,  when  it  is  most 
serviceable  in  protecting  from  wind.  As  shade-trees,  of 
deciduous  varieties,  those  only  should  be  chosen  whose 
natural  home  is  on  dry  uplands.  Willow,  soft  maple,  and 
some  other  species  and  varieties  that  naturally  seek  wet 
places,  are  often  jireferred  on  account  of  their  rapid  growth, 
but,  if  these  stand  within  fifty  feet  of  any  water-reservoir, 
such  as  a  well  or  cistern,  their  roots  are  almost  certain  to 
break  their  way  into  it  sooner  or  later,  in  spite  of  all  pre- 
cautions. Consequently,  one  can  rarely  plant  these  about  a 
village  home  without  damage  to  himself  or  his  neighbor. 

Although  by  associated  enterprise  a  village  may  be  much 
better  drained  than  a  farm  of  equal  extent  is  likely  to  be, 
yet  it  often  happens  that  for  want  of  public  spirit,  or  by 
reason  of  natural  difficulties  such  as  flatness  of  surface  and 
insufficiency  of  water-fall,  the  problem  of  drainage  is  gravely 
comphcated.  In  such  cases  the  danger  from  insufficient 
drainage  is  greater  than  on  a  farm,  in  proportion  as  the 
sources  of  sewage  are  multiplied. 

When  for  any  reason  there  is  no  adequate  system  of 
drainage  common  to  the  village,  the  householder  is  often 
unable  to  drain  his  lot  at  all,  because  he  can  not  go  beyond 
it.  Occasionally  a  stream  at  the  foot  of  the  garden  may 
furnish  him  the  needed  outlet.  If  the  stream  is  not  of 
considerable  size  and  rapid  current,  however,  he  should  not, 
in  respect  to  his  neighbors,  discharge  into  it  anything  more 


12  HEALTH  AT  HOME, 

than  the  surplus  water  from  the  clouds  falling  upon  or  flow- 
ing through  his  soil. 

In  such  circumstances  a  cesspool  is  needed.  A  cesspool 
is — if  such  a  thing  may  be — ^a  necessary  evil.  It  is  better 
than  the  slimy  pool  in  the  grass  at  the  end  of  an  open 
drain  and  within  sight  and  scent  of  the  kitchen-windows, 
that  forms  the  only  vent  for  the  waste  water  of  too  many 
houses.  At  least  a  cesspool  may  be  better  than  this,  but  it 
may  also  be  worse. 

The  commonest  form  of  cesspool  is  a  bottomless  barrel, 
buried,  with  waste-pipe  entering  it.  This  is  a  yery  imper- 
fect arrangement,  and  in  many  cases  it  becomes  a  noisome 
and  poisonous  affair,  pestilential  gases  forming  in  it  and 
escaping  through  the  waste-pipe  into  the  house,  or  transud- 
ing through  the  covering  soil.  Such  gases  are  formed  more 
or  less  in  every  cesspool  by  the  decomposition  of  its  con- 
tents. To  prevent  harm  from  this,  it  is  needful  that  the 
cesspool  be  lined  on  the  sides  and  top  with  cement,  or  in 
some  other  way  made  quite  impervious  to  water  and  gas, 
that  every  drain  or  waste  pipe  entering  it  be  provided  with 
an  efficient  trap,  and  that  it  be  ventilated  from  the  top.  If 
the  last  precaution  is  neglected,  the  gas  not  only  becomes 
more  dangerous  by  concentration,  but  it  is  liable  to  be 
formed  in  such  quantities  that  its  pressure  will  displace  the 
water  in  the  trap  and  it  will  flow  through  the  waste-pipe 
into  the  house.  If  the  cesspool  is  made  of  proper  materials 
and  the  traps  are  good,  sufficient  ventilation  may  be  had  by 
means  of  a  wooden  or  metal  pipe  running  to  the  top  of  a 
house  or  bam,  a  flag-staff,  tree,  or  any  other  object  that 
will  support  it  to  a  height  above  the  level  of  the  air  ordi- 
narily breathed  by  human  beings.  The  gas,  then,  as  fast 
as  it  is  formed,  rises  through  the  pipe  to  the  upper  stratum 
of  air,  where  it  is  immediately  diluted  and  floats  harmlessly 
away. 

If  for  want  of  ownership  or  any  other  reason  it  is  im- 


HOME  SURROUNDINGS,  13 

possible  to  have  sucli  a  cesspool,  and  tlie  ordinary  kind  must 
be  used,  a  few  precautions  will  greatly  lessen  its  danger  : 
1.  No  waste-pipe  connected  with  it  should  on  any  account 
enter  the  house.  If  desired,  the  waste-pipe  from  the  kitchen 
sink  may  open  above  an  open  hopper  or  trough  placed  out- 
side of  the  house  and  connected  by  pipe  or  drain  with  the 
cesspool,  but  no  close  connection  should  be  made.  2.  The 
cesspool  should  be  somewhat  deeply  buried  in  dry,  porous 
soil,  and  the  surface  covered  with  sod.  Two  or  three  feet 
of  dry  earth  above  a  cesspool  will  absorb  and  disinfect  a 
great  part  of  its  gas,  and  the  growing  grass  will  aid  in  this 
process.  3.  The  hopper  or  trough  leading  to  the  cesspool 
should  receive  daily  a  liberal  allowance  of  some  good  disin- 
fectant, such  as  chloride  of  lime  or  copperas.  These  pre- 
cautions will  not  entirely  avert  the  danger  caused  by  an 
imperfect  cesspool,  but  they  will  go  far  toward  doing  so. 

It  should  be  a  settled  principle  from  the  beginning  that 
no  cesspool  is  to  be  made  or  tolerated,  except  in  soil  that  is 
naturally  dry  and  porous  to  the  requisite  depth.  If  the  soil 
is  wet  or  not  freely  pervious,  a  cistern  or  reservoir  may  be 
made  in  place  of  a  cesspool,  cemented  on  the  bottom  as 
well  as  the  sides  and  top,  and  provided  with  ventilating- 
pipe  and  thoroughly- trapped  waste-pipe  as  recommended 
for  the  cesspool,  and  also  with  an  exhaust-pipe  running 
from  the  bottom  to  some  point  above  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  where  it  must  be  closed  by  an  air-tight  screw-cap. 
The  contents  may  then  be  removed  at  regular  frequent 
intervals,  in  air-tight  tanks  constructed  for  the  purpose,  by 
connecting  with  the  exhaust-pipe.  But,  unless  ample  facili- 
ties exist  for  such  removal,  the  reservoir  should  not  be 
built.  In  such  case  it  is  better  to  throw  the  waste  water 
upon  the  surface  of  the  ground  and  let  it  take  its  chances 
of  removal  by  evaporation,  absorption,  and  other  processes 
of  nature,  than  to  collect  it  in  cistern  or  cesspool. 

In  a  few  villages,  notably  in  some  sea-side  resorts,  where 


14  EEALTE  AT  HOME. 

the  ground  is  low  and  nearly  level,  and  the  only  outlet  for 
drainage  is  the  ocean  or  some  other  large  body  of  water, 
extensiye  systems  of  sewerage  are  undertaken,  while  the 
facilities  for  the  discharge  of  sewage  are  insufficient.  The 
absence  of  current  allows  the  accumulation  of  sewage  in  the 
water  near  the  sewer's  mouth,  to  the  detriment  of  the  sur- 
rounding air,  and  twice  daily  the  tide  flows  in  through  the 
sewer,  stopping  its  outlet  and  forcing  its  gas  into  every 
house  that  has  connection  with  it.  If  a  sufficient  head  of 
running  water  can  be  obtained  to  thoroughly  flush  the 
sewers  at  certain  hours  each  day,  chosen  Avith  reference  to 
the  tides,  the  evil  can  be  largely  abated,  though  even  then 
great  circumspection  will  be  necessary ;  and,  if  this  water 
can  not  be  had,  the  sewers  will  be  worse  than  useless,  and 
should  be  voted  a  public  nuisance. 

The  more  thickly  populated  such  a  place  is,  the  greater 
is  the  danger  from  this  source.  The  means  provided  by 
nature  for  the  disposal  of  waste  matters  thrown  upon  or 
mingled  with  the  soil  are  insufficient  for  populous  districts  ; 
therefore,  where  these  means  are  chiefly  to  be  relied  on  for 
want  of  running  water  or  of  sufficient  fall  for  drainage,  a 
closely-built  village  can  not  be  a  healthful  one,  however 
well  kept  it  may  be.  In  such  circumstances  the  house  to 
be  chosen  should  be  as  far  from  others  as  practicable,  and  it 
certainly  ought  not  to  stand  within  a  hundred  feet  of  any. 

In  a  village  built  on  a  hill-side  and  not  fully  sewered  or 
drained,  the  houses  near  the  foot  of  the  hill  are  not  suitable 
for  human  habitation.  If  through  ignorance  or  necessity 
some  live  there,  let  those  who  live  above  give  them  sym- 
pathy and  access  to  their  wells  at  all  times,  and  quinine  and 
beef-tea  when  needed. 

III.  City  Homes. — In  this  class  many  of  the  essential 
conditions  are  quite  different  from  those  that  have  been 
considered.  The  closeness  of  the  houses  to  one  another 
affords  much  protection  from  wind,  and  renders  the  warm- 


HOME  8U2R0UITDrNGS.  15 

ing  of  tlie  houses  mucli  easier  and  more  regular.  More 
attention  is  commonly  paid  to  draining,  sewering,  and  the 
removal  of  garbage  than  in  rural  places,  and  thus  the 
danger  of  unwholesome  emanations  from  the  soil  is  reduced 
to  a  minimum.  On  the  other  hand,  the  air  of  cities  is 
notoriously  impure  from  the  constant  addition  to  it  of  the 
products  of  teeming  animal  life,  and  of  many  industries. 
In  all  these  respects  certainly,  different  cities  yary  greatly. 
In  some  there  is  such  neglect  of  general  sanitary  engineer- 
ing that  the  mortality  rate  is  high,  and  certain  diseases 
which  are  almost  or  quite  unknown  in  less  populous  places 
haye  their  permanent  or  periodical  home  there.  Bat  in 
other  cities,  naturally  no  better  in  position,  where  the  pub- 
lic sanitary  arrangements  are  better,  these  diseases  find  no 
abiding-place,  and  the  general  health  is  as  good  as,  or  eyen 
better  than,  among  the  same  classes  of  people  in  the  sur- 
rounding country. 

The  mortality  tables  of  a  great  city  like  iN'ew  York  or 
Philadelphia  are  not  a  good  test  of  its  healthfulness  as  a 
place  of  residence,  especially  if,  as  in  the  case  of  the  former 
city,  it  is  a  princij^al  port  of  entry  for  the  country  at  large, 
or,  like  either,  a  railroad  center  and  waiting-place  for  trav- 
elers. These  lists  are  much  swelled  by  deaths  of  immi- 
grants and  other  travelers,  who  do  not  properly  belong  to 
the  city's  population,  and  who,  moreover,  necessarily  do 
not  average  as  high  in  strength  and  vitality  as  people  who 
live  comfortably  at  home,  free  from  the  vicissitudes,  irregu- 
larities, and  dangers  of  travel.  The  varied  industries  and 
mechanical  appliances  of  the  city  offer  many  casualties  to 
swell  the  death-rate,  which  yet  do  not  affect  the  healthful- 
ness of  a  city  home.  Every  added  revolution  of  the  wheels 
of  trade  crushes  out  some  human  life.  Every  new  applica- 
tion of  steam  to  mechanism  dooms  some  artisans  to  violent 
death.  Every  opening  facility  for  rapid  travel  opens  to 
some  souls  the  gate  of  eternity.     The  casualties  of  a  city 


16  HEALTH  AT  SOME. 

bear  some  relation  to  the  height  of  its  buildings,  for  every 
foot  of  increase  in  their  average  height  means  a  geo- 
metrically increasing  number  of  the  builders  hurled  into 
the  grave.  When  to  this  is  added  that  the  city  is  the  natu- 
ral and  final  resort  of  a  multitude  of  persons  whose  habits 
are  vicious  and  degraded,  and  most  of  whom  die  early  in 
consequence  of  these  habits,  it  is  readily  seen  that  the  city's 
total  death-rate  is  not  a  correct  basis  for  an  estimate  of  its 
healthfulness  as  a  dwelling-place. 

Moreover,  cities  at  all  approximating  in  size  to  the  two 
mentioned  are  large  enough  to  include  districts  widely  dif- 
ferent in  their  influence  upon  health,  so  that  it  frequently 
happens  that  while  one  part  is  very  unhealthful  another 
part  of  the  same  city  is  quite  the  reverse.  This  is  notably 
true  of  the  city  of  New  York.  While  a  residence  in  some 
portions  of  it  is  very  prejudicial  to  health,  other  parts  are 
probably  as  free  from  unwholesome  influences  as  any  of  the 
health  resorts  within  fifty  miles  of  it,  and  certainly  much 
freer  than  many  of  them.  The  reasons  for  this  difference 
are  to  be  found  partly  in  the  degree  of  attention  paid 
to  the  surroundings  in  different  parts  of  the  city,  partly 
to  the  presence  or  absence  in  certain  neighborhoods  of 
deleterious  industries,  such  as  extensive  butchering,  rag- 
sorting,  certain  manufactures  and  the  like,  and  partly  to 
differences  in  the  character  and  contour  of  the  ground,  for, 
notwithstanding  any  improvements  that  can  be  made,  the 
original  character  of  a  soil  still  has  some  influence,  and, 
while  art  can  do  much  for  a  naturally  bad  soil  or  location, 
it  can  do  more  for  a  naturally  good  one. 

All  houses  built  upon  newly  "made"  ground  should  be 
carefully  shunned,  no  matter  how  desirable  in  other  respects. 
This  ground  is  "made"  by  filling  in  some  sunken  lots,  fre- 
quently, if  not  usually,  with  the  sweepings  of  the  streets 
and  the  multifarious  contents  of  ash-barrels,  not  only  in- 
cluding ashes  and  cinders,  floor-sweepings  and  various  off- 


HOME  SUEEOUFDINGS.  17 

scourings,  but  also  often  containing  a  dangerous  amount  of 
decomposed  and  decomposing  vegetable  and  animal  organic 
matter.  The  foul  gases  generated  from  these  will  make 
their  way  upward  into  the  air.  Nothing  which  man  can  do 
will  prevent  them  from  penetrating  into  a  house  built  upon 
such  ground,  poisoning  the  air  of  kitchen  and  parlor,  of 
dining-room  and  bedchamber.  Not  a  few  of  the  most  pa- 
latial mansions  among  us  are  from  this  cause  as  unhealthy 
as  are  the  fever- wards  of  a  hospital.  Even  if  the  filling  in 
were  of  clean  ashes  and  wholesome  earth,  time  must  elapse 
before  the  site  is  fit  for  a  dwelling-house.  No  structure 
designed  for  human  habitation  should  be  begun  upon  even 
the  best  *^made  ground"  within  less  than  two  years  after 
the  filling-in  has  been  completed. 

Wide  streets  and  large  yards  are  conducive  to  health 
because  they  afford  more  circulation  of  air  and  more  sun- 
light than  narrow  streets  and  small  yards.  Conversely, 
houses  built  back  to  back,  or  with  any  similar  extreme 
economy  of  ground-space,  are  highly  objectionable.  Sta- 
tistics show  that,  in  tenement-houses  many  stories  in  height, 
diphtheria  and  many  other  diseases  are  more  common  and 
more  fatal  in  the  lower  stories  than  in  the  upper  ones,  and 
these  proportions  are  in  regular  ratio  and  constant,  so  that 
the  nearer  to  the  sky  one  lives  the  better  is  his  health.  The 
causes  of  this  curious  fact  are  the  greater  purity  of  the 
upper  air  among  these  swarming  human  hives,  and  the 
greater  quantity  of  sunlight  that  reaches  the  upper  parts  of 
the  tall  and  closely-built  houses.  In  a  large  degree  the 
same  conditions  affect  the  fashionable  ''flat"  or  apartment- 
houses.  As  a  matter  of  health  the  top  flats  are  to  be  pre- 
ferred, and  the  larger  the  building  and  the  smaller  the 
adjoining  yard  or  court  the  stronger  will  be  this  preference. 


II. 
PRIVIES  AND  WATEE-CLOSETS. 

"Water  is  undoubtedly  the  most  conyenient  yehicle  for 
the  removal  of  excreta  from  a  dwelling,  provided  that  the 
conditions  admit  of  its  use  for  that  purpose.  The  chief  of 
these  are  that  there  shall  be  an  unfailing  supply,  delivered 
from  a  sufficient  head,  and  that  there  is  a  river  or  lake  or 
the  ocean  to  serve  as  a  receptacle.  These  conditions  are 
rarely  to  be  found  except  in  large  cities ;  and  in  some  of 
these  there  is  the  grave  objection  that  the  receiving  streams 
become  polluted,  because  they  are  not  sufficient  to  carry  off 
the  immense  quantities  of  foul  matter  poured  into  them. 
The  defilement  of  the  Thames,  near  London,  is  a  case  in 
point. 

Add  to  this  that  the  plumbing  apparatus  necessarily 
involved  in  the  water-closet  is  so  complicated  in  design,  and 
not  unfrequently  so  faulty  in  construction,  as  to  often  defeat 
its  purpose  ;  unless,  indeed,  the  purpose  of  the  plumber 
was  to  secure  for  himself  a  constant  supply  of  fat  jobs  in. 
the  way  of  repairs.  "What  with  traps  and  valves,  siphons 
and  plungers,  cranks  and  levers,  elevators  and  depressors, 
and,  not  seldom,  careless  users,  the  whole  apparatus  is  con- 
tinually getting  out  of  order,  to  the  infinite  disgust  and  no 
small  pecuniary  loss  of  the  householder. 

The  manner  in  which  the  water-closet  is  connected  with 
the  sewer  is  of  vital  importance,  as  the  entrance  of  sewer- 
gas  by  this  means  into  the  house  is  an  exceedingly  fruitful 


PBIYIES  AND    WATER-CLOSETS.  19 

source  of  disease.  The  usual  connection  is  through  a  waste- 
pipe,  proyided  with  a  simple  ^*  trap"  a  foot  or  so  below  the 
receiving-pan.  This  trap  is  no  more  nor  less  than  a  bend 
in  the  pipe,  something  like  the  letter  S  laid  horizontally. 
The  theory  of  its  working  is  that  it  will  remain  always  full 
of  water,  and,  the  entire  diameter  of  the  pipe  being  thus 
filled  for  several  inches,  no  gas  can  pass  up  from  the  sewer, 
while  whatever  flows  into  the  pipe  from  above  forces  the 
contents  of  the  trap  onward  only  to  occupy  the  same  posi- 
tion until  it  yields  in  its  turn  to  another  inflow.  The  prac- 
tical working,  however,  is  apt  to  differ  from  the  theoretical 
in  two  important  particulars  :  1.  If  there  is  not  abundance 
of  water — and  sometimes  if  there  is — the  trap  retains 
enough  matter  other  than  water  to  be  offensive  and  inju- 
rious. 2.  Various  causes  sometimes  produce  unusual  press- 
ure of  gas  within  the  sewer,  especially  if  the  latter  is  of 
considerable  extent,  and,  in  such  circumstances,  the  gas  is 
liable  to  force  its  way  through  the  water  in  the  trap. 

Another  danger  in  connection  with  water-closets  is  that 
of  untrapped  waste-pipes  from  wash-basins,  bath-tubs,  and 
wash-tubs,  entering  water-closet  waste-pipes  or  sewers  with 
which  the  latter  are  connected.  All  such  pipes  should  be 
thoroughly  trapped,  and  even  then  they  may  become 
avenues  of  danger  from  unusual  pressure  of  gas,  as  already 
indicated,  if  not  from  the  contents  of  the  traps  them- 
selves. 

It  is  a  measure  of  safety  to  have  a  small  pipe  connected 
with  the  main  waste-pipe  of  the  house  and  running  up  to 
the  roof,  the  upper  end  being  open.  This  serves  as  a  vent 
to  the  gas  forced  in  from  the  sewer,  and  prevents  it  bub- 
bling through  the  traps. 

Wherever  a  water-closet  is  in  use,  the  utmost  care  should 
be  observed  that  the  plumber's  work  is  thoroughly  well 
done,  and  always  kept  in  perfect  order,  and  that  nothing 
except  liquids  should  ever  be  thrown  into  it.     Any  solid 


20  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

matter,  rags,  garbage,  and  the  like,  may  yery  likely  accumu- 
late at  some  point  and  choke  ujo  the  waste-pipe. 

It  hardly  need  be  said  that  in  this  apartment  the  utmost 
cleanliness  is  indispensable.  Whatever  other  apartment  of 
the  house  is  overlooked  upon  ^^cleaning-day,"  this  one 
should  never  be  neglected. 

It  should  always  be  built  against  at  least  one  outer  wall, 
and  have  a  window'  opening  to  the  air  outside,  and  this 
should  never  be  closed  except  in  case  of  a  storm.  The  door 
should  always  be  kept  shut,  and  there  should  be  no  other 
opening  into  a  hall  or  any  other  room  in  the  house.  The 
best  covering  for  the  floor  is  a  stout  oil-cloth,  fitting  tightly 
to  the  walls  all  around,  and  firmly  laid  down.  There 
should  be  no  carpet  of  any  kind. 

The  ^'dry  earth,"  or,  better  still,  the  ^'charcoal  closet," 
is  capable  of  application  everywhere ;  and,  though  at  its 
best  inferior  to  the  ^^water-closet"  at  its  possible  best,  is 
superior  to  the  latter  as  very  commonly  found.  Its  efficacy 
rests  upon  the  fact  that  earth  thoroughly  dried,  when 
thrown  upon  human  excreta,  does  not  merely  cover,  but 
forms  a  compost  free  from  all  odor,  and  having  no  delete- 
rious properties.  Care  must  be  observed  as  to  the  kind  of 
earth  which  is  used.  Chalky  or  sandy  soil  will  not  answer 
the  purpose.  Clays,  especially  those  adapted  for  brick- 
making,  and  loams,  are  to  be  chosen.  The  advantages  of 
charcoal  over  dry  earth  are  that  by  it  the  excreta  are  more 
readily  deodorized,  and  putrefactive  changes  are  held  in 
check  for  a  time  practically  unlimited ;  and  also  that  a 
much  less  quantity  of  charcoal  than  of  earth  is  required. 

The  dry-earth  closet,  or  the  charcoal-closet,  in  its  sim- 
plest form,  consists  merely  of  a  pail  or  glazed  earthen  ves- 
sel placed  under  the  privy-seat,  a  box  to  hold  the  earth  or 
charcoal,  and  a  hand-scoop  to  throw  it  into  the  pail.  An 
improvement  upon  this  is  to  have  the  earth  or  charcoal 
placed  in  a  hopper,  so  that  by  a  simple  mechanism  it  will  be 


PRIVIES  AND    WATER-CLOSETS.  21 

automatically  sifted  oyer  the  contents  of  the  pail.  A  pound 
and  a  half  of  earth,  or  a  quarter  as  much  charcoal,  is  suffi- 
cient for  each  time  of  using. 

In  any  case  a  dry-earth  or  charcoal  commode  should  be 
considered  an  indisi^ensable  requisite  for  a  sick-chamber 
when  the  invalid  is  unable  to  leave  the  room. 

If  there  is  a  priyy  outside  of  the  house,  it  should  be 
so  placed  that  comfortable  and  convenient  access  may  be 
had  to  it  at  all  seasons  and  in  every  kind  of  weather.  The 
pathway  should  be  very  carefully  made  and  kept,  and  well 
screened  from  the  prevailing  winds  of  winter.  The  struct- 
ure itself  should  be  substantial,  perfectly  weather-tight, 
well  ventilated  and  lighted,  and  shaded  by  trees  or  in  some 
other  way  from  the  summer  sun.  It  may  seem  that  these 
provisions  for  mere  personal  comfort  bear  small  relation  to 
health,  but  the  want  of  them  does  much  to  foster  a  habit 
of  neglect  that  is  the  despair  of  physicians. 

Privies  are  sometimes  placed  over  small  streams  of  water, 
which  are  thus  converted  into  open  sewers.  This  is  ob- 
viously uncleanly  and  unhealthful,  and  should  never  be 
tolerated.  Another  and  even  worse  plan  is  to  make  what 
is  called  a  well-privy — that  is,  one  of  which  the  vault  is 
dug  down  until  water  is  reached.  This  water,  of  course, 
as  in  other  wells,  comes  from  some  subterranean  stream, 
and  as  it  finds  its  way  into  the  vault  it  finds  its  way  out, 
carrying  with  it  much  foul  and  poisonous  material  to  other 
wells  or  springs,  no  one  knows  where.  Besides  this,  well- 
privies  are  not  as  easily  disinfected,  nor  are  they  generally 
as  often  cleaned,  as  others,  consequently  they  are  more 
dangerous  to  health. 

Perhaps  the  best  arrangement  for  a  privy  is  a  shallow 
vault  with  a  door  behind  or  at  one  side,  and  fitted  with  a 
box  or  drawer  of  wood  or  metal  that  can  be  drawn  out 
through  the  door  and  carried  away  to  be  emptied  and 
cleaned  every  week  or  two,  or  as  often  as  may  be  necessary. 


22  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

If  dry  earth  or  ctiarcoal  is  constantly  used  in  connection 
with  this  arrangement,  as  already  described,  the  plan  is  as 
nearly  perfect  as  anything  of  the  kind  can  well  be.  The 
next  best  plan  is  to  use  the  dry  earth  or  charcoal  without 
the  drawer.  The  yault  must  then  be  somewhat  deeper,  for 
without  the  drawer  it  can  not  be  emptied  in  warm  weather 
without  oifense  unless  the  earth  is  used  more  freely  and 
more  carefully  than  will  generally  be  the  case .  Of  course 
every  yault  should  be  emptied  every  spring  and  fall,  and  in 
the  mean  time  should  be  kept  thoroughly  disinfected  with 
dry  earth  or  by  other  means. 

A  spot  that  is  naturally  wet,  or  that  receives  the  surplus 
of  rainfalls,  is  not  a  suitable  place  for  a  privy.  It  will  be 
difficult  to  empty,  and  practically  impossible  to  keep  disin- 
fected. If  on  a  hill-side,  the  defect  may  sometimes  be 
remedied  by  a  drain  above,  similar  to  the  one  recommended 
for  the  protection  of  the  cellar  of  a  house  built  on  a  hill- 
side. If  this  can  not  be  done,  the  only  safe  plan  is  to  line 
the  yault  with  some  water-proof  material,  or  to  have  no 
yault,  but  simply  a  movable  box  or  drawer  above  the  sur- 
face of  the  ground. 


III. 
THE  HOUSE  ITSELF. 

Stoke,  brick,  and  wood  are  the  materials  chiefly  used 
in  this  country  for  the  construction  of  houses.  Of  either 
of  these  a  perfectly  healthful  house  may  be  built.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  is  possible  to  construct  of  either  a  house  that 
will  almost  inevitably  induce  illness  among  its  inmates. 

One  of  the  first  conditions  of  healthfulness  in  a  house 
in  most  climates  is  imperviousness  of  the  walls  to  moisture. 
Some  yarieties  of  stone  are  porous  and  some  others  are 
stratified  in  such  a  manner  that  water  readily  finds  its  way 
through  them.  Fortunately,  such  stone  is  not  durable 
when  exposed  to  the  weather,  and  therefore  is  not  much 
used  for  building ;  but  it  is  used  sometimes,  with  the  cer- 
tain consequence  of  damp  walls. 

Bricks  are  freely  permeable  to  water,  and  a  house  built 
of  them  is  sure  to  be  damp  unless  it  is  painted  on  the  out- 
side. It  is  no  uncommon  thing  after  a  rain-storm  of  two 
or  three  days'  continuance,  to  find  the  inner  surface  of  a 
brick  wall  coyered  with  drops  of  water  as  with  sweat,  or  to 
find  on  it  large  patches  that  are  appreciably  wet  to  the  eye 
and  hand,  although  there  is  no  crack  in  the  wall  or  roof 
through  which  the  rain  might  enter.  This  effect  is  often 
more  noticeable  in  country  than  in  city  houses,  because  the 
latter  are  very  commonly  built  m  continuous  rows,  so  that, 
except  at  the  ends  of  the  rows,  only  the  front  and  rear 
walls  of  the  houses  are  exposed  to  the  weather,  and  as  such 


24:  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

houses  are,  for  economy  of  space  and  material,  nearly 
always  made  very  long  from  front  to  rear,  and  very  narrow, 
the  surface  so  exposed  is  very  small  in  proportion  to  the 
volume  of  dry,  heated  air  within  the  house.  This  propor- 
tion is  still  further  increased  in  the  majority  of  cases  by 
the  fact  that  the  sources  of  heat  and  dryness  of  the  air  are 
more  numerous  and  more  extensive  in  the  ordmary  city 
house  than  in  the  ordinary  country  house. 

In  both  city  and  country,  however,  the  moisture  ab- 
sorbed by  brick  walls  is  a  common  cause  of  illness.  It  is  a 
cause  that  may  readily  be  prevented  by  painting  the  outer 
surface  of  the  bricks.  It  may  be  held  as  a  universal  rule 
in  relation  to  health  that,  in  any  region  where  the  air  is 
sufficiently  moist  to  produce  occasional  rains,  no  brick 
house  is  fit  for  human  habitation  unless  its  outside  is  thor- 
oughly painted. 

From  an  architectural  point  of  view  the  painting  of  a 
brick  house  is  commonly  regarded  as  a  barbarism,  and  so  it 
is  if  the  object  be  to  make  the  bricks  represent  stone  or 
anything  else  than  what  they  are,  since  true  art  is  always 
opposed  to  shams.  But,  since  true  art  has  always  for  its 
basis  the  most  perfect  adaptation  of  means  to  end,  and 
since  the  purpose  of  a  brick  house,  as  of  any  other,  un- 
doubtedly is  to  afford  comfortable  and  healthful  protection 
from  the  weather,  a  brick  house  painted  in  a  manner  not 
to  belie  the  bricks  and  mortar  is  really  more  artistic  than 
one  built  of  the  finest  Philadelphia  pressed  brick  and  un- 
painted. 

The  healthfulness  of  a  wooden  house,  as  compared  with 
one  of  brick  or  stone,  is  very  commonly  considered  as  de- 
pendent chiefly  on  the  relative  heat-conducting  properties 
of  the  different  materials.  It  is  sometimes  said  by  architects 
and  builders  that  wood  is  a  quicker  conductor  of  heat 
than  brick  or  stone,  and  that  therefore  wooden  houses  are 
warmer  in  summer  and  colder  in  winter  than  those  built  of 


THE  HOUSE  ITSELF,  25 

the  other  materials.  The  fact  is,  that  stone  and  brick  are 
more  rapid  conductors  of  heat  than  wood,  although  between 
hard  wood,  brick,  and  some  varieties  of  stone,  there  is  not 
a  great  deal  of  difference.  The  principal  reason  of  the  dif- 
ference in  temperature  between  houses  built  of  these  differ- 
ent materials,  but  otherwise  subject  to  similar  conditions,  is 
to  be  found  in  the  relative  thickness  of  the  walls.  In  the 
case  of  wood  the  outer  wall  has  usually  a  thickness  of  from 
half  an  inch  to  two  inches,  to  which  sometimes  is  added  a 
lining  of  brick  four  inches  in  thickness,  and  sometimes 
not.  If  brick  is  the  principal  material,  the  thickness  must 
be  from  eight  to  twelve  inches  ;  and  if  stone,  from  eighteen 
to  twenty-four.  By  reason  of  these  differences  a  stone 
house  is  longer  in  getting  heated,  and  also  longer  in  cooling, 
than  a  brick  one,  and  the  latter  longer  than  a  wooden  one. 
Hence,  sudden  changes  in  the  temperature  of  the  outside 
air  are  more  sensibly  felt  in  a  wooden  house  than  in  either 
of  the  others.  But  the  same  cause  sometimes  renders  a 
stone  or  brick  house  uncomfortably,  and  therefore  un- 
healthfully,  warm  during  half  a  summer  night,  where  a 
wooden  house  would  have  been  comfortably  cool  within  an 
hour  after  sunset. 

Another  and  more  important  consideration  regarding 
the  healthfulness  of  wooden  houses  is  the  liability  of  the 
wood  to  rot.  There  is  this  liability  to  some  extent  in  all 
houses,  for  all  have  some  wood-work,  but  there  is  compara- 
tively little  rotting  of  the  inside  wood-work,  provided  the 
inside  of  the  house  is  dry  and  well  aired. 

The  so-called  ^'^  balloon-frame"  houses  that  have  latterly 
become  so  numerous  at  sea-side  resorts  and  in  all  other 
places  where  money  is  to  be  made  by  building  on  contract 
at  the  lowest  possible  cost,  or  by  building  with  the  pros^DCct 
of  immediate  sale,  are  necessarily  unhealthful.  The  slight 
frame  is  covered  with  boards  generally  unsound  and  un- 
seasoned, just  sufficient  to  afford  support  to  the  sheathing- 

2 


26  EBALTE  AT  SOMR 

paper  wticli  is  then  nailed  on,  and  on  wliich  dependence  is 
placed  to  stay  the  wind  that  would  otherwise  pass  through 
the  joints  and  cracks  of  the  wall  almost  as  through  a  sieye. 
This,  again,  is  covered  by  yery  thin  clapboards,  oyerlapping 
each  other  by  a  fraction  of  an  inch. 

Many  of  these  houses  are  handsome,  and  apparently 
comfortable.  In  a  driying  storm,  howeyer,  the  rain  finds 
its  way  under  the  edges  of  the  clapboards,  or  eyen  soaks 
through  them,  and  wets  the  paper.  Once  wet,  the  paper 
will  often  remain  so  for  weeks,  or  eyen  months,  at  a  time, 
causing  damp  walls,  mold,  a  musty  smell,  and  rotten  boards 
and  timbers.  Of  course,  this  eyil  is  greater  at  the  sea- 
side, where  the  storms  are  more  seyere  and  the  rain  and 
mist  more  penetrating  than  in  inland  districts,  and 
where  yery  many  of  the  houses  are  occupied  only  for  a 
few  weeks  in  summer,  and  during  the  rest  of  the  year 
are  unwarmed  and  unyentilated.  Many  cases  of  so-called 
malarial  feyer  are  due  to  a  residence  of  a  few  weeks,  for 
the  purpose  of  health,  in  one  of  these  badly-constructed 
houses. 

The  roof  is  one  of  the  most  important  parts  of  a  house, 
and  the  one  most  likely  to  call  for  repairs.  Its  purpose  is 
not  merely  to  shut  out  the  upper  story  from  the  exterior 
air,  for  which  a  perfectly  flat  roof  would  do  as  well  as  any 
other.  Its  main  purpose  is  to  shed  off  rain  and  snow  ;  and 
its  pitch  must  be  sufficient  for  this.  In  those  parts  of  our 
country  where  heayy  snows  are  unknown,  the  pitch  may  be 
very  moderate.  In  those  parts  where  the  snow-fall  is  heavy, 
the  pitch  should  not  be  less  than  45°  from  the  horizontal. 
The  angle  at  the  ridge  will  thus  be  90°,  or  a  right  angle. 
The  snow  will  slide  down  this  decline  about  as  fast  as  it 
falls,  so  that  there  will  be  no  leaky  roofs  from  this  cause. 
The  framework  should  be  as  light  as  is  consistent  with  the 
requisite  strength.  For  the  roofing,  the  old-fashioned 
curying  tile  is  probably  the  best  material ;   metals — tin. 


TEE  HOUSE  ITSELF.  27 

zinc,  lead,  or  galvanized  iron — tlie  worst.  Between  these  lie 
slate  and  shingles. 

A  shingle  roof  is  not  advisable  in  a  city  honse,  because 
it  is  liable  to  be  set  on  fire  by  the  sparks  and  cinders  from 
a  neighboring  conflagration.  The  same  objection  applies, 
in  a  less  degree,  to  its  use  in  a  village  or  suburban  home, 
where,  however,  it  is  not  inadmissible.  If  the  shingles 
be  soaked  in  oil  for  two  or  three  days  before  they  are  laid, 
and  receive  a  coating  of  oil  directly  after,  to  be  repeated 
every  few  years,  such  a  roof  will  remain  sound  for  genera- 
tions. The  slate  or  shingles  should  be  most  carefully  laid, 
with  a  good  overlap,  and  securely  fastened.  In  no  other 
part  of  the  house  is  poor  material  and  poor  workmanship 
so  bad  economy.  If  the  roof  is  faulty,  the  whole  house 
is  bad,  and  nothing  can  make  it  good. 

Windows  are  the  eyes  of  the  house ;  through  them 
comes  all  the  light  which  it  receives.  Light — sunlight, 
that  is — is  in  itself  an  effective  hygienic  and  curative  agent. 
Florence  Nightingale  says :  ^^  Second  only  to  fresh  air  in 
importance  for  the  sick  is  light.  Not  merely  daylight,  but 
direct  sunlight,  is  necessary  to  speedy  recovery,  except  in  a 
small  number  of  cases.  There  are  endless  instances  where 
in  dark  wards,  or  wards  with  only  a  northern  exposure,  or 
wards  with  borrowed  light,  even  when  properly  ventilated, 
the  sick  could  not,  by  any  means,  be  made  speedily  to 
recover." 

Dr.  Richardson,  a  high  authority,  says  :  ^^  The  mind 
saddens  in  a  home  that  is  not  flushed  with  light,  and  when 
the  mind  is  saddened  the  whole  physical  powers  soon  suffer. 
The  heart  beats  languidly,  the  blood  flows  slowly,  the 
breathing  is  imperfect,  the  oxidization  of  the  blood  is  re- 
duced, and  the  conditions  are  laid  for  the  development  of 
many  wearisome  and  unnecessary  constitutional  failures 
and  sufferings.  Sunlight  is  also  of  itself  useful  to  health 
in  a  direct  manner.     It  favors  nutrition  ;  favors  the  nerv- 


28  HEALTB  AT  HOME. 

ous  functions ;  sustains,  chemically  or  ptiysicallj,  the 
healthy  state  of  the  blood.  In  every  point  of  yiew  sunlight 
stands  prominent  as  an  agent  of  health.  In  sickness  and 
in  health,  in  infancy,  youth,  middle  age,  old  age,  in  all 
seasons,  for  the  benefit  of  the  mind  and  the  welfare  of  the 
body,  sunlight  is  the  bearer  and  the  sustainer  of  health." 

Every  house  should  have  windows  large  enough,  nu- 
merous enough,  and  so  placed  as  to  afford  the  possibility 
of  abundant  light  to  every  room,  and  every  corner  of  it. 
There  is  little  danger  of  going  too  far  in  this  direction. 
If  on  a  bright  summer  day  the  light  should  be  too  intense, 
it  is  easy  to  moderate  it ;  but  it  is  not  easy  to  increase  it 
or  introduce  it  when  you  have  done  your  worst  in  trying 
to  shut  it  out. 

In  England  there  is,  or  was,  a  special  tax  upon  win- 
dows, and  so  builders  began  to  put  in  as  few  of  them  as 
possible.  Artists  also  find,  or  think  they  find,  a  special 
beauty  in  small  windows,  overhanging  window-brows, 
quaint-looking  little  dormer-windows,  and  all  that  sort  of 
thing,  which  characterize  the  so-called  ^'  Queen  Anne  style." 
We  will  not  quarrel  with  them  so  long  as  they  confine 
themselves  to  sketching  these  buildings  and  extolling  their 
picturesqueness,  although  to  our  minds  every  arrangement 
of  an  object  which  prevents  it  from  fulfilling  its  proper 
uses  is  a  deformity.  But  we  do  protest  against  architects 
putting  up  buildings  for  ns  to  live  in  from  which  sunlight 
is  excluded.  The  sunlight  may  indeed  fade  our  carpets, 
but  surely  this  is  a  lesser  evil  than  that  the  want  of  it 
should  blanch  the  cheeks  of  our  children. 

Having,  then,  abundant  windows,  let  them  be  freely 
opened  to  the  sunlight  during  a  portion  of  each  day  in  the 
year.  An  hour  or  two  in  every  twenty-four  is  none  too 
long  for  the  sun  to  look  directly  into  every  room  which 
we  would  have  in  a  healthful  condition,  and  more  than  this 
is  desirable  except   in  the  very  hottest  summer  weather^ 


THE  HOUSE  ITSELF.  29 

especially  in.  bedrooms,  kitchens,  sitting-rooms,  and  all 
other  apartments  where  people  remain  for  several  hours  at 
a  time. 

If  the  house  has  been  built  without  consideration  of  this 
need,  so  that  it  contains  rooms  into  the  windows  of  which 
the  direct  rays  of  the  sun  never  or  rarely  enter,  these  rooms 
should  be  as  freely  lighted  by  reflected  or  diffused  rays  as 
possible.  The  walls  and  wood-work  of  such  a  room  should 
be  white  or  of  some  very  light  color.  The  carpet  and  fur- 
niture should  also  be  light.  By  this  means  the  light  which 
does  enter  is  so  reflected  from  every  side  as  to  produce 
something,  though  little,  of  the  effect  of  direct  sunlight. 
Sometimes,  indeed,  it  is  possible  to  so  adjust  a  screen  of 
white  muslin  or  other  suitable  material  outside  of  the  win- 
dow, or  a  system  of  mirrors  inside  of  it,  as  to  immediately 
reflect  the  sun's  rays  throughout  the  room.  If  this  can  be 
done,  it  is  not  a  matter  to  be  lightly  neglected. 

A  striking  illustration  of  the  healthful  effects  of  sun- 
light is  furnished  by  the  record  of  a  winter  spent  by  a  ship's 
company  in  the  Arctic  regions.  Scurvy  appeared  among 
the  men,  and  was  aggravated  by  want  of  sunlight.  Several 
of  the  crew  died,  and  at  length  most  of  the  survivors  lay 
down  in  the  forecastle,  absolutely  dying  of  darkness.  The 
day  when  the  sun  should,  for  a  few  moments,  rise  above  the 
horizon,  was  at  hand,  but  the  poor  fellows  in  the  forecastle 
were  too  weak  to  come  on  deck  to  look  upon  it,  nor  did  they 
believe  its  light  would  ever  bless  their  eyes  again.  The 
weary  horror  of  dark  weeks  and  months  through  which 
they  had  waited  was  for  them  the  very  shadow  of  the  grave, 
and  silent,  sullen,  despairing,  they  waited  the  end.  The 
commander  of  the  expedition,  however,  appreciating  the 
curative  influence  of  sunlight,  arranged  a  series  of  mirrors 
with  mathematical  precision  so  that  the  very  first  ray  of  the 
rising  sun  should  be  reflected  down  into  the  forecastle,  and 
notified  the  dying  men  exactly  at  what  moment  they  were 


30  HEALTH  AT  HOME, 

to  look  for  it.  When  tliat  moment  came,  and  suddenly 
through  the  gloom  of  the  death-chamber  flashed  the  sun- 
light, and  lay  in  a  bright  band  ujoon  the  wall,  some  of  the 
rough,  hard  men  laughed  like  children,  some  wept,  some 
shouted — all  were  delirious  with  joy.  For  a  few  moments 
only  the  golden  glory  rested  on  the  wall,  and  then  passed 
away.  But  the  next  day  it  returned  for  a  longer  stay. 
And  there  was  life  in  the  light.  Erom  the  day  when  it 
first  shone  there  were  no  more  deaths,  and  no  new  cases 
of  sickness,  and  as  day  by  day  its  stay  gi'ew  longer,  the  sick 
gained  strength  and  health,  until  soon  no  name  was  left 
upon  the  sick-list. 

The  stairs  of  a  house  require  attention  in  a  sanitary 
point  of  view,  for  the  climbing  a  badly  planned  stairway  is 
irksome  to  all,  and  decidedly  injurious  to  many,  especially 
to  most  women.  The  pitch  should  not  be  too  stee]3  or  the 
rise  too  high.  A  rise  of  six  inches  and  a  breadth  of  step  of 
eleyen  inches  are  about  the  best  measurement.  Curyed  lines 
are  objectionable  in  any  except  very  large  stairways.  The 
squarer  the  stairway  is,  the  better  it  is.  Winding  stairways, 
in  which  the  steps  radiate,  and  are  broader  at  one  end  than 
at  the  other,  are  bad  in  every  way.  They  occasion  quite 
unnecessary  tumbles,  with  the  concomitant  bruised  shins, 
sprained  ankles,  and  broken  bones. 

It  sometimes  happens  that.  In  sj)ite  of  perfect  outer 
walls  and  roof,  the  plastering  of  a  house  will  always  be 
slightly  damp  in  rainy  weather.  The  dampness  may  be 
sufficient  to  be  plainly  seen  or  felt,  or  it  may  be  just  suffi- 
cient to  cause  wall-paper  to  blister  and  peel  off,  and  to 
make  the  plaster  itself  gradually  scale  and  crumble.  Of 
course,  such  houses  are  unhealthful.  They  are  quite  com- 
mon near  the  sea-shore,  and  we  are  frequently  told  that 
the  effect  is  due  to  the  sea-salt  i»  the  air.  This  may  be  in 
part  true,  but  probably  in  most  cases  the  cause  lies  more 
largely  in  the  sea-salt  in  the  sand  with  which  the  plaster 


TEE  EOUSE  ITSELF.  31 

was  Blade.  For  this  reason  sand  from  the  sea-shore  or  from 
the  surface  of  the  ground  within  a  few  miles  of  the  sea — 
that  is  to  say  within  the  area  visited  by  ''  sea-air,"  should 
never  he  used  for  making  plaster  or  mortar  for  a  dwelling- 
house.  Masons  will  tell  us  that  such  sand  is  "  not  sharp 
enough  "  to  make  good  mortar.  In  other  localities,  where 
sand  that  is  not  very  "  sharp  "  is  sometimes  for  economical 
reasons  used  in  building,  it  would  be  well  to  see  whether 
its  want  of  "sharpness  "  does  not  mean  that  it  holds  some 
impurity  that  will  cause  the  mortar  made  from  it  to  absorb 
moisture. 

The  painting  and  papering  of  a  house  often  have  a  rela- 
tion to  the  health  of  its  inmates.  For  the  outside,  it  mat- 
ters little,  in  a  sanitary  point  of  view,  what  is  the  color  or 
the  material  of  the  paint.  If  the  object  of  the  painting  be 
to  protect  from  the  weather,  it  is  important  to  use  materi- 
als that  will  give  a  good  body,  and  that  will  not  readily 
scale  off.  Also  it  is  well  to  remember  that  a  white  or  light 
colored  house  will  be  cooler  in  summer  than  a  dark  one, 
because  the  former  will  reflect  and  the  latter  absorb  much 
of  the  sun's  heat.  If  the  house  is  of  wood,  oiling  will  an- 
swer the  purpose  of  protection  as  well  as  painting  or  even 
better.  Aside  from  these  considerations,  questions  of  taste 
and  of  economy  should  govern  the  matter. 

For  the  inside  of  the  house,  however,  there  is  more  tO: 
be  said  on  this  point.  Most  of  the  materials  used  in  paint- 
ing are  more  or  less  injurious  to  health,  and  many  of  them 
are  highly  poisonous.  The  lead  and  zinc  paints  in  com- 
mon use  are  decidedly  so.  When  applied  mixed  with  oil, 
these  paints  form  a  surface  that  soon  acquires  an  almost 
metallic  hardness  and  coherence,  and  has  little  or  no  effect 
upon  the  air  of  a  room.  Before  this  point  is  reached,  how-v 
ever,  they  affect  the  air  very  sensibly.  The  smell  of  fresh 
paint  indicates  the  presence  in  the  air,  not  only  of  the  vola- 
tile parts  of  the  oils  that  have  been  used  in  painting,  but  also 


32  EEALTH  AT  EOMR 

of  particles  of  the  coloring-matter  itself,  albeit  tliese  par- 
ticles are  in  general  nearly  or  quite  inodorous.  It  is  there- 
fore yery  detrimental  to  health  to  occupy  a  painted  room  so 
long  as  the  odor  of  the  paint  or  of  the  oil  can  be  perceived. 

The  case  is  quite  different  as  regards  wall-paper  and  kal- 
somine.  The  coloring  materials  of  these  never  become  so 
coherent  as  do  oil-paints,  consequently  if  they  are  poison- 
ous the  air  of  a  room  decorated  with  them  must  always  be 
nnhealthful.  For  some  years  the  injurious  effects  of  ar- 
senical colors  thus  used  have  been  clearly  recognized,  and 
certain  shades  of  green  have  been  therefore  condemned.  It 
should  be  generally  known,  however,  that  arsenic  is  a  com- 
mon factor  in  the  production  of  some  other  colors,  notably 
of  some  shades  of  gray  which  are  now  quite  fashionable  in 
wall-papers  and  kalsomine.  Indeed,  most  wall-papers  and 
kalsomines  contain  substances  that  are  more  or  less  injuri- 
ous, even  if  they  are  free  from  arsenic.  This  matter  has 
not  yet  been  fully  investigated,  but  it  is  doubtless  true  that 
many  headaches,  disorders  of  digestion,  and  various  vague 
ailments  are  caused  by  occupying  papered  and  kalsomined 
rooms,  where  there  is  no  arsenical  poisoning,  and  where  the 
true  cause  is  not  even  suspected. 

Another  objection  to  wall-paper  is  that  the  paste  with 
which  it  is  put  on  is  liable  sometimes  to  ferment  and  give 
opportunity  to  unhealthy  fungous  growths.  Besides,  the 
paper  being  porous  and  remaining  in  place  for  years,  fre- 
quently absorbs  the  germs  of  certain  diseases,  and  so  be- 
comes a  spreader  of  infection. 

It  is  better  that  the  walls  throusrhout  the  interior  of 
the  house  should  be  painted  in  oil,  or  else  that  they  should 
be  simply  whitewashed.  If  neither  of  these  plans  is  consid- 
ered practicable,  it  becomes  more  important  than  ever  that 
the  circulation  of  air  should  be  abundant  and  constant. 


THE  AIE  WE  BEEATHE. 

The  air  is  composed  of  two  gases,  nitrogen  and  oxygen, 
in  the  proportion  of  77  parts  by  weight  of  the  former  to 
33  of  the  latter,  with  a  small  quantity  of  carbonic  acid,  a 
mere  trace  of  ammonia,  and  an  extremely  variable  propor- 
tion of  water  in  the  form  of  invisible  vapor.  In  some 
places  and  at  some  times  air  is  liable  to  contain  various 
other  gases,  as  impurities  derived  from  various  sources,  but 
those  which  have  been  named  are  constant  elements  of  it. 
The  carbonic  acid  and  the  ammonia  may,  indeed,  be  con- 
sidered as  impurities,  though  their  sources  are  so  wide- 
spread that  they  are  never  absent,  and  it  is  only  with 
respect  to  the  use  of  the  air  for  breathing  that  they  can  be 
regarded  as  impurities,  for  in  some  other  uses  they  are  a 
necessary  part  of  it.  The  watery  vapor,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  in  no  sense  an  impurity,  as  some  portion  of  it  is  necessary 
to  make  air  fit  for  respiration  as  well  as  for  other  uses. 

For  our  present  purposes  the  main  use  of  the  nitrogen 
of  the  air  is  to  dilute  the  oxygen  so  as  to  render  the  whole 
fit  for  breathing  by  the  human  lungs.  Decrease  the  pro- 
portion of  nitrogen  in  a  certain  ratio,  and  we  have  the 
elements  of  nitrous  oxide  ('^laughing-gas"),  which  may  be 
breathed  for  a  short  time,  but  would  soon  wear  out  the 
system  by  the  increased  action  which  it  occasions.  De- 
crease the  nitrogen  still  further,  and  the  result  is  the  pro- 
portions of  the  two  gases  that  form  nitric  acid,  which  will 


34  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

eat  into  the  flesh  like  fire^  and  will  devour  almost  every 
metal  excej^t  gold.  Decrease  the  ratio  of  oxygen,  and  we 
diminish  its  adai^tability  to  breathing.  When  the  diminu- 
tion of  oxygen  reaches  a  certain  point,  the  air  becomes 
wholly  unfit  for  fulfilling  its  functions  in  the  human  econo- 
my, and  death  ensues,  more  or  less  speedily  according  to 
the  ratio  of  this  diminution. 

One  great — we  may  say  the  great — problem  of  securing 
a  healthy  home  is  to  make  such  provision  that  the  atmos- 
phere within  the  house  shall  always  be  very  nearly  in  its 
normal  condition.  That  is,  practically,  that  the  air  vitiated 
by- having  i3arted  with  a  j)ortion  of  its  oxygen  by  passing 
into  and  out  of  the  human  system,  or  otherwise,  shall  be 
driven  off,  and  its  place  taken  by  pure  air  from  without. 

When  the  air  from  the  house  (more  or  less  vitiated)  has 
been  expelled,  it  ceases  to  be  injurious  except  in  extraordi- 
nary cases ;  for  all  gases  have  a  strong  tendency  to  commingle, 
and  the  quantity  thrown  out  is  usually  so  small,  when  com- 
pared with  that  into  which  it  is  thrown,  that  its  noxious 
power  is  imperceptible.  There  are  indeed  some  kinds  of 
manufactures,  the  waste  products  of  which  vitiate  the  air 
through  a  wide  circuit — it  may  be  for  miles  ;  but  such  a 
site  will  be  sedulously  avoided  by  any  one  who  has  a  healthy 
home  in  view,  just  as  he  would  avoid  the  vicinity  of  a  ma- 
larial swamp. 

The  special  function  of  the  act  of  breathing  is  to  keep 
the  blood  constantly  supplied  with  its  due  amount  of  oxy- 
gen. Day  and  night,  sleeping  or  waking,  the  chest  alter- 
nately contracts  and  expands  some  twenty  times  a  minute, 
drawing  in  at  each  inhalation  about  half  a  pint  of  air, 
which  at  each  exhalation  is  expelled  in  an  altered  condition. 

Physiologists  call  this  atmosi^heric  ebb  and  flow  the 
"tidal  air."  But  the  air  is  not  wholly  expelled  from  the 
system.  About  100  cubic  inches  remain  in  the  bronchial 
tubes  and  in  the  millions  of  air-cells  within  the  lungs. 


THE  AIR    WE  BREATHE.  35 

This  *^ residuary  air''  has  been  deprived  of  a  portion  of  its 
oxygen,  giving  it  up  to  the  blood  and  receiving  therefrom 
in  return  carbonic  acid.  The  blood  in  its  j^assage  through 
the  system  gives  to  the  various  tissues  of  the  body  most  of 
the  oxygen  which  it  had  received  in  the  lungs,  and  takes 
from  them  carbonic  acid ;  and  when  at  last  it  is  collected 
in  the  pulmonary  artery,  has  a  dark-purplish  hue  instead 
of  the  bright  scarlet  with  which  it  began  its  rounds.  It  is 
poured  into  the  right  side  of  the  heart — or  rather  the  right 
heart — whose  strong  contractions  force  it  through  innu- 
merable capillary  tubes  distributed  throughout  the  lungs, 
where  it  receives  a  fresh  supply  of  oxygen,  parts  with  its 
carbonic  acid,  is  poured  into  the  left  heart,  whence  it  is  sent 
again  through  the  aorta  and  its  myriad  branching  arteries 
to  every  part  of  the  system  in  one  unceasing  round.  This 
round  begins  at  the  moment  of  birth,  and  continues  until 
the  last  instant  of  life.  The  first  and  the  last  earthly  act 
of  a  human  being  is  to  breathe. 

The  act  of  breathing  is  the  one  which  must  be  kept  up 
constantly  and  continuously  as  the  prime  condition  of  life. 
We  may  live  without  eating  for  days,  perhaps  sometimes 
for  weeks.  We  may  live  for  hours,  perhaps  sometimes  for 
days,  without  drinking.  But  we  can  live  for  only  a  very 
few  minutes  without  breathing.  So  essential  is  this  func- 
tion that  its  exercise  is  placed  mainly  beyond  the  control  of 
the  will ;  at  most  we  can  suspend  or  somewhat  modify  it 
for  a  short  time.  We  eat  or  drink  by  an  act  of  the  volition  ; 
we  breathe  without  at  all  willing  it.  When  the  man  has 
absolutely  ceased  to  breathe,  he  is  dead. 

Now,  it  is  essential  to  the  proper  function  of  breathing 
that  the  inhaled  air  shall  be  measurably  pure.  To  what- 
ever extent  it  is  vitiated — that  is,  lacks  its  due  proj)ortion 
of  oxygen  or  contains  any  noxious  material — ^just  in  that 
proportion  must  the  function  of  breathing  be  imperfectly 
performed. 


36  EEALTE  AT  HOME. 

The  eyil  effects  of  breathing  a  vitiated  atmosphere  are 
manifold,  even  though  in  the  outset  we  scarcely  notice 
them,  or  by  long  habit  become  only  partially  sensible  of 
them.  In  general  terms,  it  lowers  the  whole  tone  of  the 
system,  although  within  certain  limits  this  lowering  is  not 
perceptible  from  day  to  day,  or  week  to  week  ;  but,  from 
season  to  season,  the  person  is  sensibly  in  worse  health  than 
in  the  same  season  the  year  before. 

There  are  other  means  of  vitiating  the  air  of  an  unven- 
tilated  room  than  the  mere  breathing  it  over  and  over 
again.  Among  these  are  the  heating  of  it  by  the  ordinary 
furnaces  or  by  close  stoves  ;  and  more  esjoecially  the  light- 
ing by  gas.  An  ordinary  gas-burner  will  consume  four 
times  as  much  oxygen,  and  consequently  generate  four 
times  as  much  carbonic  acid,  as  will  a  single  person  by 
breathing.  There  can  not  well  be  a  more  unhealthy  and 
debilitating  place  than  a  close  hall  packed  with  auditors, 
and  lighted  by  numerous  jets  of  gas.  K^o  wonder  that 
many  a  preacher  or  lecturer  finds  himself  addressing  an  au- 
dience growing  more  and  more  unsympathetic  or  sleej^y. 

The  object  of  ventilation  is  to  keep  the  air  of  a  building 
or  apartment  in  its  normal  condition.  This  normal  condi- 
tion is  affected  in  two  ways  :  1.  By  the  abstraction  of  a 
portion  of  its  elements  ;  2.  By  the  introduction  of  ingredi- 
ents positively  injurious.  Both  these  modes  of  vitiation  oc- 
cur in  the  case  of  inhabited  rooms.  From  the  pure  outside 
morning  air,  enter  an  ill-ventilated  bedroom  which  has 
been  occupied  through  the  night,  and  you  will  at  once  be- 
come aware  of  a  disagreeable  sensation.  The  air  appears 
to  be  ^'  close,"  and  there  is  also  an  odor  more  or  less  offen- 
sive. The  '^  closeness"  arises  from  the  partial  absence  of 
oxygen  and  the  presence  of  a  considerable  quantity  of  car- 
bonic acid.  The  foul  smell  has  a  quite  different  cause  (for 
carbonic  acid  is  absolutely  inodorous)  ;  it  arises  from  exha- 
lations from  the  body  and  other  sources,  and  varies  in  in- 


THE  AIR   WE  BREATHE.  37 

tensity  according  to  the  nature  and  amount  of  these  exha- 
lations. 

An  adult,  in  health,  breathes  about  twenty  times  a  min- 
ute, inhaling  and  exhaling  at  each  respiration  about  half  a 
pint  of  air — say  eleven  gallons  an  hour.  Each  of  these 
half-pints  of  air  is  successively  so  far  deoxygenized  and 
loaded  with  carbonic  acid  as  to  be  in  itself  unfit  for  further 
breathing.  But  these  eleven  gallons  of  air  are  by  no  means 
sufficient  to  maintain  life  for  an  hour.  From  an  air-tight 
vessel  of  this  caj)acity  filled  with  pure  air,  let  a  tube  pass  to 
the  mouth  of  a  person  ;  close  the  nostrils,  and  let  him 
breathe  only  by  the  mouth,  through  this  tube,  back  and 
forth  into  the  vessel.  At  each  respiration,  after  a  few  min- 
utes, the  breathing  will  become  more  and  more  impaired, 
and,  probably  long  before  the  hour  has  expired,  the  experi- 
menter will  be  dead,  unless  the  experiment  has  been  aban- 
doned. He  would  die  from  suffocation,  just  as  he  might  be 
suffocated  by  strangling  or  drowning. 

Practically,  the  amount  of  air,  originally  pure,  required 
to  maintain  life,  is  five  or  six  times  as  great  as  this — say  a 
hogshead,  or  about  sixty  gallons,  an  hour.  In  the  experi- 
ment above  suggested,  substitute  a  hogshead  for  a  cask,  and 
the  person  might  breathe  for  a  full  hour,  although  more 
and  more  imperfectly  from  minute  to  minute  toward  the 
last  of  the  hour  ;  that  is,  while  the  air  in  the  hogshead 
became  more  and  more  vitiated  from  minute  to  minute,  it 
would  not  at  the  end  of  sixty  minutes  have  reached  that 
extreme  of  vitiation  which  would  render  it  absolutely  in- 
capable of  sustaining  life. 

The  processes  of  ventilation  depend  mainly  upon  the 
convective  principle  by  which  heat  is  conveyed  and  dissemi- 
nated through  a  volume  of  water,  air,  or  gases.  And  this 
requires  that  there  should  be  a  difference  between  the  tem- 
perature of  the  outer  atmosphere  and  that  within  the  room 
to  be  ventilated.      Theoretically  it  is  of  no  consequence 


88  JSEALTB  AT  ROME. 

wliicli  is  the  colder,  and  therefore  the  heavier.  The  colder 
air  will  always  drive  out  the  warmer,  provided  there  is  any 
means  by  which  the  warmer  air  can  escape  ;  not  otherwise. 
Thus,  in  a  room  provided  with  an  adequate  outlet,  if  the 
air  within  be  colder  than  that  without,  the  current  consist- 
ing of  cold  air  will  be  outivarcl  until  an  equality  of  tem- 
perature is  reached,  when  the  current  will  cease. 

But  practically  the  air  within  a  room  is  almost  in- 
variably warmer  than  that  without,  and  so  the  current 
of  fresh  air  will  be  imoard,  provided,  as  before,  that 
there  be  a  sufficient  outlet  by  which  the  warmer  air  can 
escape. 

There  is  no  difficulty  in  providing  means  for  the  inlet 
of  the  colder  air  from  without.  There  is  indeed  some 
question  whether  it  is  best  to  admit  it  at  the  tojD  or  the 
bottom  of  the  room,  or  at  some  point  intermediate  between 
them.  If  it  is  admitted  at  the  bottom  (which  in  itself 
appears  to  present  the  most  advantages),  an  opening  of 
proper  size  is  made  in  the  outer  wall ;  from  this  outer  open- 
ing a  pipe  runs  under  the  floor,  through  which  it  opens  at 
some  desirable  point — underneath  the  stove  if  there  be  one 
in  the  room.  If  the  cold  air  is  to  be  admitted  near  the 
top  of  the  room,  a  partial  opening  of  the  window  by  let- 
ting the  upper  sash  down  an  inch  or  two  is  as  good  as  any 
other  possible  method. 

But  some  reasons  have  been  adduced  for  admitting  the 
air  at  a  jooint  between  the  top  and  the  bottom  of  the  room. 
A  very  good  authority  says  :  '*  A  substitute  for  the  sash- 
ventilating  plan  is  to  introduce  into  the  room  one  or  more 
of  the  so-called  ^Tobin's  tubes.'  These  tubes  pierce  the 
outer  wall  horizontally  about  waist-high,  and  upon  reach- 
ing the  interior  turn  upward  at  a  right  angle,  discharging 
fresh  air  into  the  room  some  two  or  three  feet  from  the 
ceiling.  The  air  ascends,  and  is  distributed  gently  and 
without  draught  throughout  the  room.     There  are  many 


TBE  AIR    WE  BREATEE,  39 

devices  for  concealing  tlie  tubes,  or  giving  tliem  an  orna- 
mental aspect," 

But  most  of  the  advantages  of  the  Tobin's  tubes  may  be 
secured  by  a  slight  modification  of  the  ordinary  mode  of 
window- ventilation.  Lower  the  upper  sash  about  ten  inches, 
and  fill  the  opening  at  the  top  with  a  tightly  fitting  board. 
A  space  of  about  an  inch  thick,  and  as  long  as  the  width 
of  the  window,  is  thus  left  between  the  panes  of  the  upper 
and  the  lower  sash.  Through  this  will  flow  an  inward 
ascending  current  of  cold  air,  which  will  diffuse  itself 
throughout  the  room,  while  it  is  at  the  same  time  gradually 
sinking  by  its  own  comparative  weight  to  the  floor.  This 
modification  is  especially  adapted  for  use  during  the  night 
in  sleeping-rooms,  since,  should  a  storm  arise,  no  rain  can 
enter  the  apartment  by  it,  as  might  be  the  case  were  the 
opening  above  the  sash  left  unclosed.  In  the  morning  the 
board  should  usually  be  removed,  the  lower  sash  raised  and 
the  upper  one  lowered,  for  a  more  thorough  "airing"  of 
the  room. 

If  an  apartment  be  without  a  chimney-flue  (which 
should  never  be  the  case  when  it  can  possibly  be  prevented), 
something  may  still  be  done  by  means  of  a  ventilator  open- 
ing, directly  or  indirectly,  near  the  ceiling,  into  the  outer 
air.  Better  than  nothing  at  all  is  a  mere  transom- window 
over  the  door,  opening  into  a  cool  hall.  When  the  sash  of 
the  transom  (which  swings  upon  pivots)  is  inclined  outward 
and  upward,  a  current  of  air  will  be  created  on  each  side — 
the  warm  air  of  the  room  passing  out  on  the  upper  side, 
the  cooler  air  from  the  hall  flowing  in  upon  the  lower  side. 
If,  however,  the  air  of  the  hall  is  warmer  than  that  of  the 
room,  and  is  vitiated  by  exhalations  from  the  kitchen  or 
otherwise,  this  transom  is  worse  than  useless;  for  the  air 
which  comes  in  is  more  impure  than  that  which  goes  out 
and  is  replaced  by  it. 

In  very  many  cases  it  is  impossible  to  make  use  of  any 


40  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

means  for  ventilation  other  than  the  doors  and  windows 
and  the  chimneys.  Usually  these  can  be  made  to  serve 
a  very  good  j^iirpose,  although  their  positions  and  other 
conditions  vary  so  greatly  in  different  cases  that  it  is  im- 
possible to  lay  down  any  strict  rules  for  their  use.  Common 
sense  in  the  application  of  the  principles  already  brought 
to  view  is  required.  It  should  always  be  remembered  that 
a  single  opening  is  not  enough  in  ordinary  circumstances. 
It  is  better  that  there  should  be  several,  and  that  they 
should  be  at  different  heights.  Thus,  a  window  oj^ened  a 
little  way  at  top  and  bottom  is  commonly  more  effective 
than  a  window  opened  to  twice  the  extent  at  either  top  or 
bottom.  If,  however,  the  temperature  within  the  room  is 
the  same  as  that  outside,  there  will  be  neither  incoming 
nor  outgoing  current  unless  advantage  can  be  taken  of  a 
breeze  or  of  some  artificial  movement  of  the  air,  and  in 
the  absence  of  these  it  becomes  necessary  to  throw  the  win- 
dow wide  open  at  either  top  or  bottom  and  trust  to  the 
law  of  diffusion  of  gases  for  preserving  the  purity  of  the 
air. 

If  there  is  a  fire  in  an  open  fireplace  or  grate,  or  in  a 
stove  that  has  a  direct  and  powerful  draught,  air  will  be 
drawn  from  the  room  so  rapidly  to  feed  the  fire  that  the 
outer  air  will  rush  in  abundantly  through  any  opening 
that  may  exist,  and  frequently  when  the  fire  is  brisk  enough 
air  will  thus  find  its  way  through  the  joints  of  the  doors 
and  windows  even  while  these  are  closed.  For  this  reason 
it  is  often  possible  by  building  a  light  fire  to  ventilate  in  a 
few  minutes  a  room  that  has  been  shut  uj)  a  long  time  and 
smells  close  and  musty,  and,  if  the  fire  bums  with  a  free 
draught  and  is  not  continued  too  long,  the  air  of  the  room 
is  sometimes  decidedly  cooler  after  than  before  the  opera- 
tion. 


THE  WATER   WE   DRINK. 

Next  in  immediate  importance  to  pure  air  is  water. 
Water  dissolves  or  takes  up,  to  a  greater  or  less  degree, 
almost  eyery  substance  with  which,  it  comes  in  contact. 
Rain-water  is  perhaps  its  purest  natural  form.  But  in  its 
passage  through  the  atmosphere  it  carries  with  it  some  am- 
monia and  more  or  less  of  the  minute  animal  and  yegetable 
organisms  floating  in  the  air.  These  are  often  present  in 
such  quantities  that  their  decomposition  renders  rain-water 
more  or  less  putrid  after  it  has  stood  some  time.  More- 
over, in  thickly  populated  districts,  and  in  the  neighborhood 
of  many  manufactories,  the  rain  in  its  descent  absorbs  va- 
rious impurities  from  the  air.  It  is  also  liable  to  acquire 
organic  matter  from  leaves  and  other  substances  on  the 
roofs  from  which  it  is  commonly  collected,  and  in  some 
cases  from  the  materials  of  the  roofs  themselves.  From 
these  causes  the  water  of  cisterns  frequently  becomes  offen- 
sive and  unfit  for  drinking.  Even  though  these  impurities 
are  not  obvious  to  any  sense,  they  are  always  to  be  guarded 
against,  for  water  may  be  perfectly  clear,  colorless,  and 
sparkling,  with  no  unpleasant  taste  or  odor,  and  yet  contain 
a  dangerous  amount  of  organic  matter.  There  is  a  very 
simple  test  for  this  :  Pat  into  a  clear,  colorless,  glass- 
stoppered  bottle,  a  pint  of  the  suspected  water,  with  a  few 
grains  of  white  lump-sugar  ;  expose  the  bottle  to  the  day- 
light in  the  window  of  a  warm  room.     If  within  a  week  or 


42  HEALTH  AT  HOME, 

ten  days  the  water  becomes  turbid,  there  is  organic  pollu- 
tion of  some  sort,  and  it  is  almost  certainly  unfit  for  drink- 
ing, as  it  is. 

If  water  has  any  taste  or  smell,  it  should  always  be 
boiled  before  drinking.  It  is  well  to  filter  it  also.  In  fact, 
it  is  a  wise  precaution  to  filter  all  drinking-water,  even 
though  it  be  not  thought  necessary  to  boil  it.  There  is  no 
end  to  the  number  and  size  of  the  filters  offered  for  sale. 
In  lack  of  any  of  these,  one  which  will  answer  every  prac- 
tical purpose  may  be  readily  extemporized  anywhere. 
Take  a  common  unglazed  earthen  flower-pot  of  large  size  ; 
coyer  the  hole  in  the  bottom  with  a  bit  of  clean  flannel ; 
put  in  three  inches  of  grayel,  and  as  much  of  white  sand, 
and  oyer  this  four  inches  of  charcoal ;  pour  in  the  water  at 
the  top,  and  let  it  filter  through  the  hole  in  the  bottom  into 
a  glass  or  earthen  yessel  below,  and  what  with  the  antiseptic 
quality  of  the  charcoal,  and  the  mechanical  filtering  power 
of  the  sand  and  grayel,  the  water  will  come  out  i)ure  and 
innocuous.  The  charcoal  in  time  will  become  clogged  with 
the  impurities,  and  should  be  cleansed  by  heating  it  upon 
a  shovel  oyer  a  hot  fire.  The  sand  and  gravel  must  also  be 
cleaned  or  renewed  from  time  to  time.  This  simple  and 
inexpensive  filtering,  and  the  boiling  of  all  suspected  water, 
will  be  a  great  safeguard  against  such  diseases  as  typhoid 
fever,  cholera,  and  dysentery,  which  are  to  a  considerable 
extent  propagated  by  drinking-water. 

The  water  of  lakes  and  large  ponds  is  generally  nearly 
as  pure  as  rain-water  ;  often  purer  than  that  of  springs  and 
wells,  for  the  reason  that,  while  these  natural  reservoirs 
derive  most  of  their  water  from  underground  streams  which 
are  more  or  less  affected  by  the  soil  or  the  rocky  strata 
through  which  they  pass,  lakes  receive  also  no  small  amount 
of  rain-water  directly  from  the  clouds,  which  is  nearly  pure. 
The  same  is  true  of  the  water  of  large  rivers,  except  that 
it  contains  in  suspension  considerable  quantities  of  mud, 


THE  WATER    WE  DRINK,  43 

wliicli  is  deposited  as  earthy  sediment  when  the  water  is 
allowed  to  stand  for  a  while  in  a  suitable  yessel.  The  water 
thus  clarified  is  usually  excellent ;  that  of  some  large  rivers, 
as  the  Mississipi^i  and  the  Nile,  pre-eminently  so,  as  is 
vouched  for  by  all  voyagers  upon  those  streams. 

The  water  supplied  from  lakes,  ponds,  and  rivers  is  that 
which  is  generally  supplied  to  large  cities  by  means  of  pub- 
lic water- works.  Under  proper  conditions  it  is  unexcep- 
tionable except  that  in  summer  it  is  usually  too  warm  to 
be  agreeable  for  drinking ;  but  this  defect  is  remedied  by 
the  addition  of  ice.  With  us  this  icing  is  usually  carried 
too  far.  The  temperature  of  our  ice-water  is  usually  sev- 
eral degrees  lower  than  it  should  be,  in  a  sanitary  point  of 
view.  The  best  temperature  is  that  of  the  water  from  a 
cool  spring  or  deep  well,  and  this  will  range  through  several 
degrees  as  indicated  by  the  thermometer.  Moreover,  the 
ice  itself  not  unfrequently  contains  more  or  less  of  impuri- 
ties from  various  sources ;  hence  it  is  advisable  that  the 
vessel  for  holding  ice-water  should  consist  of  two  cylinders, 
one  within  the  other,  and  not  communicating  with  each 
other,  so  that  the  ice  and  water  do  not  come  in  contact. 
The  ice  is  placed  in  the  inner  cylinder,  the  water  in  the 
outer  one.  If  the  relative  size  of  these  is  judiciously  pro- 
portioned, the  water  will  be  kept  at  a  proper  temperature, 
and  a  considerable  saving  will  be  made  in  the  quantity  of 
ice  required. 

But,  if  the  water  of  rivers  flows  through  a  densely  peo- 
pled region,  especially  a  manufacturing  one,  or  through  or 
near  large  cities,  it  is  invariably  more  or  less  polluted  by 
the  refuse  of  the  manufactories,  and  the  various  impurities 
from  dwellings,  barn-yards,  stables,  etc.,  for  which  the  river 
furnishes  the  readiest  means  of  drainage.  The  water  should 
always  be  taken  from  a  point  above  any  of  these  polluting 
sources  ;  and  stringent  legal  provision  should  be  made  that 
BO  such  injurious  establishments  shall  be  so  placed  that 


44:  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

their  drainage  may  enter  the  river  above  tlie  point  of  sup- 
ply- ' 

Moreover,  it  happens  sometimes  that  the  water  in  ponds 

and  reservoirs  is  affected  by  what  appears  to  iis  to  be  a 
spontaneous  growth  of  microscopic  vegetation,  in  such 
quantities  as  to  seriously  imjoair  its  purity.  This  evil,  usu- 
ally temporary  in  its  duration,  may  be  obviated  by  boiling 
the  water  before  it  is  used.  This  will  effectually  destroy 
the  dangerous  vitality  of  the  vegetable  growth  ;  and  a  sub- 
sequent filtering  will  render  the  water  perfectly  salubrious. 

The  water  of  springs  and  wells  is  always  somewhat 
modified  by  the  character  of  the  soil  or  rocky  strata  through 
which  it  percolates.  If  the  neighboring  rock  is  of  granitic 
formation,  the  water  takes  np  very  little  from  it,  and  is  con- 
sequently very  nearly  in  its  natural  state.  If  the  rock  be 
limestone  or  magnesian,  the  water  will  be  largely,  and  often 
injuriously,  impregnated  with  these  minerals.  If  the  soil 
be  alkaline,  the  water  will  often  be  utterly  unfit  for  drink- 
ing by  man  or  beast.  The  water  of  wells  is  essentially  the 
same  as  that  of  the  S23rings  of  the  region,  only  it  is  more 
likely  to  be  polluted  by  admixtures  from  Avithout — the 
drainings  of  dwellings,  barns,  manufactories,  and  the  like. 

Water  containing  carbonate  or  sulphate  of  lime  in  solu- 
tion is  called  "  hard."  That  which  is  free  from  these  salts 
is  said  to  be  '^  soft."  In  many  parts  of  this  and  other  coun- 
tries these  substances  are  so  abundant  in  the  earth  that  all 
the  water  of  the  region  is  hard  except  rain-water.  Peo]Dle 
who  are  accustomed  to  drinking  hard  water  do  not  generally 
find  it  unhealthy,  but  it  is  apt,  when  drunk  freely  by  those 
who  are  unaccustomed  to  it,  to  cause  diarrhoea.  Its  mod- 
erate use  for  a  few  days  will  generally  overcome  this  tend- 
ency. If  the  hardness  of  water  is  due  principally  to  the 
presence  of  carbonate  of  lime,  it  may  be  made  soft  by  boil- 
ing, the  carbonate  of  lime  being  thus  made  to  adhere  to  the 
bottom  and  sides  of  the  vessel. 


TSE  WATER   WE  DRINK,  45 

Tlie  use  of  lead  pipes  to  convey  water  is  a  very  com- 
mon source  of  unwliolesomeness  in  the  latter.  The  pres- 
ence of  lead  in  the  water  is  scarcely  perceptible  to  the  taste, 
and  its  effects  are  not  usually  manifested  at  once,  but  the 
poison  introduced  from  day  to  day  accumulates  in  the  sys- 
tem, and  after  a  time  the  sudden  occurrence  of  ^^  painter's 
colic  "  or  of  the  peculiar  form  of  paralysis  due  to  lead-poi- 
soning shows  the  mischief  that  has  been  done.  Lead  pi23es, 
when  used  to  convey  drinking-water,  should  always  be  lined 
with  block- tin.  If  this  is  not  possible,  the  water,  whenever 
drawn,  should  be  allowed  to  run  until  all  that  has  been  for 
any  time  at  rest  within  the  lead  pipe  is  discharged,  before 
any  is  saved  for  drinking. 

Supposing  we  have  secured  reasonably  pure  and  whole- 
some water,  the  quantity  that  we  ought  to  drink  demands 
some  consideration.  In  ordinary  circumstances,  however, 
this  is  perhaps  a  matter  of  less  importance  than  some  have 
supposed,  provided  always  that  we  drink  enough  to  supply 
the  daily  waste  through  the  various  excretions.  In  general, 
thirst  is  a  good  guide,  though  when  very  thirsty  it  is  well 
to  drink  slowly  and  with  intervals,  for  thirst  depends  not 
on  the  absence  of  water  from  the  stomach,  but  on  the  want 
of  it  in  the  blood  and  bodily  tissues,  so  that  we  must  not 
only  swallow  it  but  wait  for  it  to  be  absorbed  before  thirst 
will  be  fully  allayed,  and  if  we  do  not  so  wait  we  are  liable 
to  swallow  more  than  is  needed.  There  is  no  great  harm 
in  this  if  we  are  well  and  strong,  and  the  water  is  not  too 
cold,  for  the  superfluous  water  will  very  soon  be  discharged 
by  the  skin  and  kidneys,  but  until  it  is  so  discharged  it  will 
cause  us  discomfort. 

The  entire  quantity  of  water  ordinarily  discharged  from 
the  body  of  a  healthy  man  in  twenty-four  hours  is  not  far 
from  four  and  a  half  pounds.  This  is  considerably  more 
than  is  usually  drunk,  because  a  great  deal  is  taken  in 
various  kinds  of  food.     Much,  however,  depends  on  habit. 


4:6  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

Many  persons  in  good  health  habitually  drink  and  discharge 
far  less  than  the  average  quantity  of  water  and  watery  fluids, 
while  others,  seemingly  equally  healthy,  greatly  exceed  that 
quantity.  Occupation  also  has  a  large  influence  in  the  mat- 
ter. Some  kinds  of  labor,  carried  on  in  great  heat,  cause  as 
much  perspiration  in  an  hour  as  commonly  occurs  in  a  day, 
and  this  must  be  balanced  by  drinking  an  equivalent  quan- 
tity of  water,  so  that  it  is  not  unusual  for  glass-blowers, 
foundrymen,  etc.,  to  drink  water  at  the  rate  of  half  a  gal- 
lon or  a  gallon  per  hour. 

The  quantity  necessary,  therefore,  becomes  largely  a 
matter  of  circumstances  and  individual  habit,  and  each  one 
must  in  this  respect  be  in  great  measure  a  rule  unto  himself. 


YI. 

THE  FOOD  WE  EAT. 

It  follows,  from  tlie  nature  of  the  case,  that  the  food, 
taken  as  a  whole,  must  contain,  and  in  due  proportions,  all 
the  elements  which  go  to  make  up  the  body  whose  waste 
it  has  to  repair.  And  it  must  also  be  presented  in  such  a 
form  as  to  render  it  digestible.  A  piece  of  the  dry  bark  of 
a  tree  contains  in  it  nearly  all  of  the  elements  of  the  human 
body,  but  not  in  a  digestible  form.  It  is  sometimes  eaten 
under  extreme  stress  of  famine  ;  but  it  must  first  be  broken 
into  small  pieces,  and  boiled  in  water  to  soften  the  tough 
fiber  and  cause  the  starch-vessels  to  burst.  A  fleshless 
bone  contains  a  large  proportion  of  highly  nutritive  matter, 
but  in  such  a  form  that  the  digestive  fluids  can  not  get  at 
it.  A  man  might  take  into  his  stomach  bone-dust  contain- 
ing enough  nutritive  matter  to  make  a  full  meal,  and  yet 
starve  to  death.  Yet,  if  the  bones  had  been  subjected  to 
proper  boiling,  the  nutritive  matter  would  have  been  ex- 
tracted, and  have  become  excellent  food. 

The  various  processes  of  cooking,  besides  gratifying  the 
palate,  soften  the  food,  and  thus  render  it  more  easy  of  di- 
gestion. Some  of  the  best  articles  for  food  can  be  used  as 
such  only  after  they  have  been  cooked. 

The  kind  of  food  suitable  for  one  age  of  life  may  be 
wholly  unsuitable  for  another.  In  an  infant  the  digestive 
functions  are  performed  so  rapidly  that  he  must  feed 
every  two  hours.     The  adult  need  not  eat  oftener  than  two 


48  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

or  three  times  a  day.  The  infant's  food  must  be  of  a  kind 
that  can  be  rapidly  digested  ;  at  first,  milk  only.  Not  one 
infant  in  ten  would  survive  many  days  if  he  were  given 
only  bread,  even  though  soaked  in  water,  to  say  nothing  of 
yege tables  and  meat. 

It  is  an  often-mooted  question  whether  man  should  live 
on  vegetable  or  animal  food,  or  both,  but,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  everybody  who  can  get  it  eats  both  animal  and  vege- 
table food.  The  structure  of  his  teeth  and  digestive  organs 
indicate  that  man  was  intended  to  be  an  eater  of  both 
animals  and  vegetables.  So  was  he  in  the  first  beginnings 
of  his  recorded  history,  so  is  he  now,  and  so  we  doubt  not  he 
will  be  while  the  world  stands.  The  proportions  in  which 
he  will  use  these  two  kinds  of  food  depends  much  upon 
circumstances,  notably  on  climate.  When  both  kinds  are 
readily  procurable,  vegetable  food  will  usually  predominate 
in  the  diet  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  tropics,  animal  food 
in  that  of  the  peoples  of  frigid  zones. 

Vegetables,  taken  collectively,  contain  in  varying  pro- 
portions all  the  elements  contained  in  the  human  frame. 
Wheat  probably  contains  them  in  the  best  proportions — 
unless,  indeed,  maize  may  be  placed  close  by  its  side ;  in 
some  respects  a  little  above,  in  others  a  little  below. 

Wlien  wheat  is  made  into  flour,  a  certain  portion  of  its 
nutritive  value  is  lost.  That  is  to  say,  a  part  of  its  gluten, 
which  is  its  principal  flesh-forming  element,  and  which  lies 
near  the  surface  of  the  grain,  adheres  to  the  hull  or  skin 
when  it  is  ground,  and  so  is  lost  in  the  bran.  By  the  old 
method  of  grinding  and  bolting,  the  finer  and  whiter  the 
flour  is  made  the  more  gluten  is  lost. 

These  facts  of  themselves  would  be  suflScient  to  warrant 
the  theory  that  bread  made  of  superfine  flour  would  not  of 
itself  suffice  to  maintain  human  life,  since  it  lacks  several 
of  the  components  of  the  body.  Partial  experiments  upon 
man,  and  complete  ones  upon  animals,  fully  established 


THE  FOOD    WE  EAT.  49 

the  theory.  It  has  been  found  that  a  dog,  fed  exclusively 
upon  bread  made  from  superfine  flour,  will  not  live  more 
than  a  month.  Though  furnished  with  an  abundance  of 
this,  it  is  literally  starved  to  death.  The  other  food  which 
we  take,  however,  contains  the  elements  wanting  in  white 
bread,  thus  supplying  the  deficiency  ;  so  that  for  us  the 
whitest  of  bread  is  not  positively  unwholesome. 

Still,  taking  all  things  into  account,  bread  made  from 
flour  that  contains  the  full  proportion  of  gluten  is,  on  sani- 
tary grounds,  to  be  preferred.  For  this  reason  many  have 
advocated  the  use  of  unbolted  flour,  making  the  so-called 
''  Graham  -  bread,"  while  others  recommend  the  use  of 
"  middlings  "  instead  of  fine  flour.  Both  of  these  prepara- 
tions, however,  are  less  agreeable  to  most  people  than  fine 
flour,  and  they  contain  more  or  less  indigestible  material 
that  irritates  some  stomachs.  Flour  made  by  what  is 
called  the  ^^new  process,"  however,  obviates  all  these  ob- 
jections, for,  while  it  contains  all,  or  nearly  all,  the  gluten 
of  the  wheat,  it  is  perfectly  fine,  white,  and  free  from 
bran.  It  is  therefore  on  all  accounts  to  be  preferred, 
and  is  well  worth  the  extra  price  which  it  costs.  Only 
certain  varieties  of  wheat  are  capable  of  being  made  into 
flour  by  this  process,  and  these  varieties  are  rich  in  gluten. 
Such  is  the  hard,  spring  wheat  of  Minnesota,  from  which 
it  is  said  that  not  only  the  finest  but  the  most  nutritious 
flour  in  the  world  is  now  made. 

Flour,  as  it  comes  from  the  miller,  is  sometimes  adulter- 
ated with  bean-meal,  for  rendering  the  dough  more  tena- 
cious when  kneaded.  Damaged  flour  is  "  corrected  "  by  the 
use  of  alum  and  of  carbonate  of  soda — the  latter  to  remove 
the  sourness  occasioned  by  decomposition  of  the  gluten. 
Bakers  not  unfrequently  add  alum  to  ^^  white  bread,"  in 
order  to  make  it  still  whiter  ;  and  alum  in  any  considera- 
ble quantities  acts  injuriously  upon  the  digestive  organs. 

In  the   making  of  bread  or  biscuit  two  things  are  of 


50  EEALTE  AT  HOME. 

paramount  importance^  namely,  that  it  shall  he  light  and 
Bweet.  If  it  is  heavy  the  digestive  fluids  can  not  act  readily 
on  it,  and,  while  some  strong  stomachs  will  digest  it  with- 
out much  inconvenience,  many  will  only  do  it  painfully 
and  at  the  expense  of  wearying  effort,  that  if  frequently  re- 
peated must  induce  disease.  If  it  is  sour,  it  is  not  only  dif- 
ficult of  digestion,  but  its  nutritive  value  is  lessened.  The 
sourness  of  bread  is  a  certain  sign  that  putrefactive  change 
has  commenced  in  the  gluten.  This  is  sometimes  due  to 
the  fact  that  the  dough  or  the  sponge  has  stood  too  long,  for 
this  change  will  always  occur  when  flour  is  kept  moist  and 
warm  for  a  considerable  time.  Sometimes  it  is  due  to  the 
use  of  "yeast-cakes "or  " leaven "  made  of  flour  or  meal 
in  which  the  change  is  already  begun.  Soda  or  saleratus 
is  often  used  to  correct  such  sourness  by  combination  with 
the  acid  that  has  been  developed  in  the  dough.  It  can  do 
this,  but  it  can  not  restore  the  decomposed  gluten,  and  if, 
as  frequently  happens,  it  is  added  in  excess  of  the  acid  in 
the  bread,  it  will  neutralize  some  of  the  acid  of  the  gastric 
juice  in  those  who  eat  of  it,  thereby  impairing  digestion 
and  frequently  causing  pain  and  illness. 

Frequently  the  lightness  of  bread  is  secured  by  mixing 
with  the  flour  baking-soda  and  cream  of  tartar.  The  chem- 
ical action  which  takes  place  between  these  substances  when 
wet,  causes  the  discharge  of  carbonic-acid  gas,  which,  be- 
ing confined  by  the  dough,  puffs  the  latter  up,  or  "  raises  " 
it.  A  similar  result  follows  if  sour  milk  or  some  other 
acid  substance  is  used  instead  of  the  cream  of  tartar. 
Bread  made  in  this  way  may  be  perfectly  healthful  if  the 
acid  and  alkali  are  used  in  moderate  quantity  and  in  due 
proportions.  In  domestic  practice,  however,  the  propor- 
tions are  rarely  accurately  observed,  the  alkali  being  usually 
somewhat  in  excess.  If  it  is  considerably  so,  the  digestive 
function  must  suffer. 

All  baking-powders  are  combinations  of  acid  and  alkali 


THE  FOOD    WE  EAT.  51 

similar  to  tlie  one  mentioned.  They  have  the  advantage  of 
being  generally  accurately  proportioned,  and  the  disadvan- 
tage of  being  very  frequently  adulterated  with  substances 
more  or  less  deleterious. 

^^  Prepared"  or  "self-raising"  flour  is  simply  flour  in 
which  the  acid  and  alkali  are  already  mixed,  needing  only 
to  be  wet  in  order  to  develop  their  action.  Such  flour, 
when  prepared  and  sold  by  responsible  parties,  is  usually 
perfectly  wholesome. 

The  starch  contained  in  wheat  and  in  many  other  vege- 
tables is  in  the  process  of  digestion  converted  into  sugar, 
and  as  such  serves  an  imj)ortant  purjoose  in  nutrition. 
When  bread  is  toasted  this  change  in  its  starch  is  greatly 
forwarded,  and  therefore  toast  is  much  more  readily  di- 
gested than  plain  bread. 

Warm  bread  is  somewhat  difficult  of  digestion,  partly 
because  it  forms  a  close,  adhesive  mass,  partly  because  the 
butter,  which  is  commonly  eaten  with  it  in  larger  quanti- 
ties than  with  bread  that  is  not  warm,  melts  and  soaks  into 
it,  both  of  these  causes  interfering  with  the  action  of  the 
digestive  fluids  upon  it. 

Of  the  meats  commonly  used  by  us,  none  are  of  them- 
selves other  than  wholesome.  Each  has  some  good  qualities 
to  a  greater  extent  than  others.  Good  beef  combines 
probably  more  of  these  than  any  other.  Good  mutton  is 
not  far  behind.  Every  now  and  then  a  senseless  outcry  is 
raised  against  pork.  So  far  as  this  is  directed  against  the 
flesh  of  swine  fed  upon  garbage,  distillery-slops,  and  the 
like,  kept  in  close  pens,  and  forced  to  wallow  in  filth,  the 
denunciation  is  well  deserved.  But  the  swine  in  his  natu- 
ral state  is  very  cleanly  in  his  habits.  His  wont  of  "wal- 
lowing in  the  mire  "  is  not  at  all  uncleanly.  He  does  so  in 
order  to  rid  himself  of  certain  insect  annoyances.  The 
mud  only  touches  his  bristles,  and  comes  off  when  it  gets 
dry.     The  flesh  of  corn-fed  pork  is  perfectly  wholesome, 


52  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

and  for  several  reasons  is  better  adapted  than  any  other  for 
the  main  meat  of  those  who  are  engaged  in  laborious  out- 
door occupations.  The  lumberman,  for  example,  prefers 
pork  to  beef  as  a  regular  diet. 

There  are  those  who  find  a  s|)ecial  delicacy  in  venison 
and  the  flesh  of  other  game.  But  probably  this  arises 
from  the  comparative  rarity  of  the  meat,  and  from  its 
being  usually  eaten  under  circumstances  when  the  appetite 
is  keen,  rather  than  from  any  real  superiority.  Poultry 
and  wild  birds  are  unexceptionable  at  any  time  ;  but 
rather  by  way  of  change  than  as  a  constant  diet.  They 
cloy  upon  the  appetite.  '^Turkey  every  day"  is  what 
no  man  can  endure.  So  also  with  quails  and  similar  small 
birds. 

Boiling  renders  meat  more  digestible  than  any  other 
mode  of  cooking,  and  is  more  economical,  since  a  less  pro- 
portion of  the  nutritive  matter  is  lost.  It  has  been  esti- 
mated that,  in  boiling,  beef  and  mutton  lose  about  23  per 
cent  of  their  weight ;  in  baking,  about  31  per  cent ;  in 
roasting,  about  34  per  cent.  Some  kinds  of  meat — especially 
the  flesh  of  young  animals — are  unsuited  for  boiling,  since 
they  contain  a  large  percentage  of  gelatine  and  albumen, 
which  are  readily  dissolved  in  hot  water,  and  are  conse- 
quently ^"^ boiled  away"  and  wasted. 

In  baking,  roasting,  and  broiling,  the  heat  should  be 
strongest  at  first,  and  then  diminished ;  because  the  quick 
heat  at  the  beginning  closes  the  pores  of  the  meat,  pre- 
venting the  juices  from  escaping,  and  enabling  them  to  per- 
meate the  entire  piece. 

In  stewing  and  hashing,  the  meat  is  put  into  a  more 
convenient  form  for  digestion  than  by  any  other  mode. 
The  minute  subdivision  requisite  for  digestion,  and  which 
otherwise  must  be  done  by  the  teeth,  is  to  a  good  degree 
performed  by  the  cooking.  Stews  and  hashes  are  therefore 
especially  adapted  for  those  whose  teeth,  whether  from  age 


THE  FOOD    WE  EAT,  53 

or  other  cause,  are  too  imperfect  to  perform  properly  their 
work  of  mastication. 

Fish,  as  an  article  of  food,  holds  a  somewhat  peculiar 
position.  Those  who  can  get  only  fish  for  animal  food  are 
certainly  liable  to  many  diseases.  Yet,  when  alternated 
with  flesh-meat,  both  are  better  than  either. 

The  custom,  that  when  a  dinner  consists  of  several 
courses  one  of  them  should  be  fish,  appears  to  be  based 
upon  good  sanitary  grounds.  The  rule  of  the  greater  part 
of  the  Christian  Church,  which,  by  proscribing  the  eating 
of  meat  on  Fridays,  virtually  prescribes  that  of  fish,  is 
probably  a  wiser  one  than  the  framers  of  it  knew.  It  would 
be  well,  upon  the  whole,  that  fish  should  be  eaten  to  a 
much  greater  extent  than  it  now  is  in  our  country,  and  to 
quite  as  great  an  extent  as  it  is  likely  to  be  eaten,  even 
should  our  schemes  of  fish-culture  accomplish  all  that  is 
hoped  for  them. 

Eggs  are  purely  an  animal  product,  as  are  meat  and 
milk,  between  which  in  composition  they  hold  a  kind  of 
middle  place.  The  contents  of  a  raw  egg  consist  of  about 
74  parts,  by  weight,  of  water,  14  of  nitrogenous  elements, 
10  of  fatty  matter,  and  2  of  various  saline  substances.  In 
a  sanitary  point  of  view,  boiling  is  the  best  mode  of  cook- 
ing them-  Hard-boiled  eggs  are  not  so  easy  of  digestion 
as  soft-boiled  ones,  and  are  apt  to  produce  constipation  in 
some  persons. 

As  to  the  quantity  of  food  required  for  perfect  suste- 
nance, the  best  authorities  give  estimates  that  differ  more 
in  seeming  than  in  fact,  when  the  conditions  under  which 
they  were  made  are  considered.     Dalton  says  : 

'*The  total  quantity  of  food  required  by  man  has  been 
variously  estimated.  It  will  necessarily  vary,  indeed,  not 
only  with  the  constitution  and  habits  of  the  individual,  but 
also  with  the  quality  of  the  food  employed ;  since  some 
articles,  such  as  corn  and  meat,  contain  very  much  more 


54  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

alimentary  material  in  the  same  bulk  than  fresh  fruits  or 
yegetables.  Any  estimate,  therefore,  of  the  total  quantity 
should  state  also  the  kind  of  food  used ;  otherwise  it  will 
be  altogether  without  yalue.  From  experiments  per- 
formed while  living  on  an  exclusiye  diet  of  bread,  fresh 
meat,  and  butter,  with  coffee  and  water  for  drink,  we  haye 
found  that  the  entire  quantity  of  food  required  during 
twenty-four  hours  by  a  man  in  full  health,  and  taking  free 
exercise  in  the  open  air,  is  as  follows  : 

Meat 16  ounces,  or  1*00  pound  avoirdupois. 

Bread 19      "  "    ri9      « 

Butter  or  fat 3^      "  "      '22      " 

Water 52  fluid  ounces,  3-38      "  " 

That  is  to  say,  rather  less  than  two  and  a  half  pounds  of 
solid  food,  and  rather  oyer  three  pints  of  liquid  food." 

Dr.  Letheby  estimates  that  an  adult  male,  engaged  in 
ordinary  actiye  labor,  requires  each  day  about  5  ounces  of 
nitrogenous  food  (meat,  fish,  eggs,  etc.),  and  29  ounces  of 
carbonaceous  food  (bread,  butter,  sugar,  potatoes,  etc.),  in 
the  forms  in  which  they  are  ordinarily  used.  Those  en- 
gaged in  yery  laborious  work  may  need  half  as  much  more 
of  nitrogenous  food,  and  something  more  of  carbonaceous 
food  ;  those  engaged  in  comparatiyely  inactiye  occupations 
require  considerably  less. 

The  dietetic  scale  can  in  some  respects  be  better  arranged 
by  army  surgeons  than  by  any  others,  since  soldiers  are 
usually  men  in  the  prime  of  life,  and  in  sound  physical 
condition ;  and  the  estimates  are  made  from  such  large 
numbers  that  indiyidual  idiosyncrasies  will  about  balance 
each  other.  Dr.  Pla}rfair  has  collated  the  dietaries  fur- 
nished for  soldiers  in  the  Crimean  War,  the  Austro-Italian 
War,  and  the  ciyil  war  in'  the  United  States,  the  general 
result  being  that  for  each  day  about  8  ounces  of  nitrogenous 
and  18  ounces  of  carbonaceous  food  were  allotted  to  each 


THE  FOOD    WE  EAT. 


55 


soldier.  The  comparatively  small  amount  of  carbonaceous 
food  required  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  the  yegetables 
provided  were  to  a  great  extent  *^  desiccated/'  that  is,  de- 
prived of  much  of  their  water. 

These  proportions  are  considerably  less  than  those  given 
by  Professor  Horsford  in  his  table  of  the  rations  of  the 
more  important  armies  of  the  world  when  in  active  service, 
which  is  as  follows  : 


FOOD. 


Flour 

Cornmeal. 
White 

bread . . . 
Hardbread 
Black  rye 

bread . . . 
Fresh  beef. 
Salt  beef. . 
Salt  pork. . 
Potatoes  f 


Eice \ 

Barley. . 

Peas I 

Beans  . .  [ 
Oatmeal  . . 
Desiccated 
vegetables 

Cabbage  or 
sauerkraut 
Coffee, 

green . . 
Coffee, 
roasted  & 
ground.. 

Tea 

Brandy. ., 
Wine..  .. 

Beer 

Tobacco . . 

Sugar 

Vinegar... 
Lime-juice 
Mustard . , 
H  or s  e- 

radish. . . 

Pepper 

Salt 


a 
< 

22  oz.  or 

20  oz.  or 

22  oz.  or 
16  oz.  or 


20  oz.  or 
20  oz.  or 

12  oz. 

16  oz. 
3  times 

weekly 

1-6  oz. 


0-64  gill 

or  1  oz. 
2  times 
weekly, 


1-6  oz.  or 


l-2Soz.or 
2-4  oz 


2-4  oz. 

0-32  giU. 


0-4  oz. 
0-6  oz. 


32  oz. 
4  oz. 


1-65  oz. 


2-30  oz. 


17-160Z, 
3-10  oz, 


24oz.  or,16oz.or 
16  oz.      16  oz 


16oz.  or 

16oz.or 

16  oz. 


2  oz.  or 
2oz, 


2oz. 
1  oz. 
1  oz. 


0-25  oz. 
0-5  gill. 


2oz. 
1  oz. 


0-05  oz.  0-31  oz. 
0-10  oz.  0-62  oz. 


16oz.  or 

16oz.  or 

16  oz. 


4oz. 
other 
vegeta- 
bles. 
16  oz. 


1-43  0Z. 
0-43  oz. 


1  oz. 


Frencli. 


22-83  OZ.)      or 
and      V  26-43 
3-52  OZ.  )     oz. 
10-78  oz.  or 


8-47  oz. 

2  •  11  oz.  or 
2-11  oz.  or 


0-9  oz. 


0'43  gill,  or 
1-75  gill 


Hoz. 


0-9  oz. 


16  oz.  or 

32  oz. 
8  oz.  or 

4oz. 


20  oz.  or 
2-C6oz.  or 
4  oz.  or 
8  oz.  or 
8  oz.  or 
5-3  oz. 


gills 


supply 


s  a 


16  oz. 
1 6  oz.  or 
16  oz.  or 

16  oz. 


•5  gills. 


1-5  gill. 
I'l  quart 


1-75  gill, 
quantity 
imk'wn. 

3-86  gr, 
3-86  gr. 
0"75  oz. 


The  health  of  a  home  dej)ends  in  no  small  degree  upon 


56  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

the  kinds  of  food  cliosen,  the  quality  of  eacli  kind,  the 
proper  cooking  of  it,  and  the  manner  in  which  it  is  eaten. 
With  ns  there  is  practically  no  limit  to  the  choice  of  kinds, 
and  it  is  very  rare  that  articles  of  perfectly  unexceptionable 
quality  are  not  to  be  had. 

It  is  for  many  reasons  desirable  to  have  yariety  in  our 
food  ;  why  else  is  such  a  yariety  of  edibles  proyided  for  us, 
on  the  dry  land  and  in  air  and  water  ?  And  there  are 
many  ways  in  which,  by  cooking,  each  material  may  be 
made  into  many  quite  different  dishes.  The  person  who 
said,  *'I  eat  only  to  liye,"  said  a  yery  foolish  thing.  We 
are  so  constituted  that  the  proper  exercise  of  eyery  bodily 
function  giyes  us  pleasure  ;  and  the  rightful  gratification 
of  eyery  sense  is  an  innocent  gratification.  It  may  some- 
times be  a  duty  to  *^  mortify  one's  body"  for  the  sake  of 
some  higher  end  ;  but  to  mortify  it  just  for  the  sake  of  its 
being  mortified  is  sheer  folly.  It  is  worse  than  folly ;  it 
is  an  implied  slur  upon  the  Maker  and  Former  of  our 
bodies.  There  was  little  saintliness  in  the  action  of  that 
old  saint  who  spread  an  abundant  and  yaried  table  for  his 
guests,  but  made  his  own  dinner  of  a  crust  of  bread  and  a 
radish. 

The  good  housewife  need  by  no  means  deyote  her  days 
and  nights  to  the  study  of  the  profound  gastronomical 
works  of  famous  cooks  ;  nor  need  she  keep  a  scrap-book  in 
which  to  paste  the  recipes  floating  about  in  the  news- 
papers. Her  theoretical  knowledge  of  that  art  which  man 
alone  is  said  to  practice  can  be  much  more  easily  acquired. 
She  should,  of  course,  be  able  to  do  her  own  marketing, 
eyen  though  she  need  not  always  do  it  in  person.  She 
should  know  from  what  part  of  the  animal  any  particular 
cut  is  taken,  and  for  what  purpose  any  particular  cut  is 
best  adapted.  She  should  be  quite  able  to  distinguish  the 
body  of  a  young  turkey  or  chicken  from  that  of  a  yenerable 
gobbler  or  ancient  chanticleer ;  a  freshly -caught  fish  from 


THE  FOOD    WE  EAT.  57 

one  that  lias  rested  many  days  in  the  ice-box,  and  all  that. 
But,  when  it  comes  to  the  matter  of  actual  cooking,  a  little 
volume  which  she  can  slip  into  her  pocket  is  sufficient  for 
all  the  recipes  she  needs.  It  will  furnish  variety  ample 
enough  for  all  the  tastes  of  a  healthy  home,  and  for  such 
delicacies  as  the  wants  of  a  possible  invalid  may  require. 

ISTor  need  she  lay  out  all  her  knowledge  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  a  single  meal.  The  variety  should  be  that  from 
day  to  day,  not  from  course  to  course  in  one  meal.  It  will 
be  all  the  better  that  the  bill  of  fare  should  not  be  the 
same  on  any  two  successive  days ;  nor  the  same  from  day 
to  day  week  after  week.  If,  in  compliance  with  quite  gen- 
eral usage,  Friday  is  ^^  fish-day,"  there  is  no  good  reason 
why  Sunday  should  always  be  '^  roast-beef-day,"  Monday 
"hash-day,"  and  so  on.  The  husband,  when  he  comes 
home  to  dinner,  will  relish  the  meal  all  the  more  from  not 
knowing  of  what  it  is  to  consist ;  still  better,  if  it  is  quite 
different  from  what  he  expected.  A  surprise,  when  not  a 
disagreeable  one,  is  always  a  pleasant  thing.  To  do  this 
in  the  best  way,  she  should  plan  in  a  general  fashion  the 
bill  of  fare  for  a  month  ahead,  noting  beforehand  what 
articles  will  be  in  season  from  week  to  week,  what  supplies 
she  will  have  in  store,  and  what  she  must  lay  in  from  time 
to  time. 

Very  many  articles  have  their  special  seasons  when  they 
are  most  plentiful,  and  consequently  cheapest ;  and  they 
are  always  in  their  best  condition  during  this  season.  The 
person  who  chooses  to  have  the  first  strawberry,  the  first 
peach,  or  the  first  shad  of  the  season,  must  make  up  his 
mind  to  pay  a  very  high  price  for  a  very  poor  thing.  In  a 
sanitary  as  well  as  an  economical  point  of  view,  he  may 
take  to  himself  the  epithet  descriptive  of  the  one  whose 
money  soon  ceases  to  bear  him  company. 

Potatoes  are  always  in  season,  though  some  varieties  are 
better  at  one  period  of  the  year  and  some  at  another,  and  a 


58  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

potato  that  has  not  ripened  sufi&ciently  to  cook  mealy,  or 
that  by  "keeping  has  passed  the  mealy  stage  and  is  watery 
when  cooked,  is  hardly  fit  for  human  food.  The  best  po- 
tato may  be  spoiled  in  cooking,  but  much  depends  on  using 
each  yariety  when  it  is  in  its  i^rime.  With  some  Tarieties 
this  stage  is  reached  as  soon  as  the  potato  is  fit  to  be  taken 
from  the  ground,  with  others  it  does  not  arrive  until  after 
the  potato  has  been  stored  for  some  months  ;  with  some  it 
lasts  only  for  a  few  days,  with  others  for  months.  The 
potato  known  as  the  Early  Eose  has  for  several  years  held 
precedence  on  account  of  remaining  in  its  prime  longer 
than  most  other  yarieties.  ]N"early  eyery  yariety  degener- 
ates, however,  after  a  few  years,  and  new  ones  are  constantly 
being  introduced,  so  that  the  choice  must  vary  somewhat 
from  year  to  year.  With  us,  potatoes  are  almost  as  staple 
an  article  of  food  as  bread,  and  take  the  place  of  that  and 
of  other  starchy  foods  to  a  very  great  extent,  hence  the  great 
importance  of  haying  them  always  good.  They  are  more 
digestible  boiled  or  roasted  than  fried,  because  when  fried 
they  become  more  or  less  soaked  with  grease,  rendering  them 
somewhat  cohesive  and  not  easily  acted  on  by  the  digestive 
fluids  in  the  stomach.  The  same  condition  afiects  fried 
foods  in  general.  Fat  is  a  very  necessary  article  of  food, 
notwithstanding  much  foolish  prejudice  against  it,  but  the 
manner  of  its  digestion  differs  somewhat  from  that  of  most 
other  substances,  and  it  is  accomplished  chiefly  through  the 
agency  of  other  fluids  than  those  which  are  most  active  in 
the  case  of  starch,  gluten,  lean  meat,  etc.;  therefore  it  is 
better  that  the  fat  should  be  taken  in  the  form  of  butter, 
cream,  fat  meat,  etc.,  in  connection  with  other  food,  but 
not  incorporated  with  the  other  by  frying. 

Sweet-potatoes  are  much  more  nutritious  than  Irish 
potatoes.  Pound  for  pound,  the  former  contain  nearly 
twice  as  much  available  nutriment  as  the  latter. 

Turnips,  beets,  parsnips,  and  some  other  roots  contain 


THE  FOOD  WE  EAT.  59 

less  nutriment  than  lootatoes,  and  in  a  somewhat  different 
form.  They  are  in  general  very  wholesome,  however,  and 
afford  a  pleasant  and  nseful  variety  in  food. 

Peas  and  beans  are  said  to  contain  more  nutriment  in 
proportion  to  their  weight  than  any  other  vegetables  in 
common  use.  They  are  particularly  rich  in  nitrogenous 
elements,  thereby  more  nearly  approaching  in  character  to 
the  flesh  of  animals  than  most  vegetables  do. 

Green  vegetables  are  generally  quite  wholesome,  not- 
withstanding much  that  is  thoughtlessly  said  to  the  con- 
trary. It  is,  indeed,  sometimes  gravely  asserted  that  Na- 
ture never  intended  any  vegetable  to  be  used  for  food  be- 
fore it  is  ripe,  and  that  no  unripe  or  immature  food  can  be 
wholesome.  But  Nature  certainly  intended  a  large  class  of 
animals  to  live  entirely  or  chiefly  on  green  vegetables,  and 
many  of  those  vegetables  which  are  eaten  green  by  man  are 
utterly  unfit  for  food  when  they  are  ripe.  For  example, 
no  one  would  think  of  eating  ripe  cabbage,  spinach,  or  let- 
tuce, unless  driven  by  extreme  hunger,  but  all  of  these  in 
their  green  state  are  grateful  to  both  palate  and  stomach, 
albeit  they  are  not  so  quickly  digested  as  some  other  foods, 
and  are  therefore  unsuitable  in  some  forms  of  illness  or  of 
feebleness.  Perhaps  the  cucumber  is  the  only  vegetable 
commonly  eaten  green,  of  which  it  may  reasonably  be  said 
that  it  would  be  better  not  so  to  eat  it ;  and,  although  the 
cucumber  is  certainly  the  product  of  a  vegetable,  it  is 
doubtful  on  which  side  it  should  be  placed  of  the  line 
dividing  what  are  known  in  common  parlance  as  "  vegeta- 
bles "  from  what  are  known  in  common  parlance  as  ^'  fruits." 
Moreover,  the  much-abused  cucumber  itself,  though  not  a 
very  useful  food,  is  quite  a  harmless  one  to  a  large  pro- 
portion of  people  if  used  with  ordinary  judgment.  One 
cardinal  rule  to  be  observed  in  the  selection  of  green  vege- 
tables is  that  they  shall  not  be  stale.  They  are  all  liable 
to  ferment,  and  when  they  are  stale  this  process  may  have 


eO  SEALTB  AT  HOME. 

already  begun,  or,  if  not,  it  is  quite  likely  to  begin  in  the 
stomach,  to  the  hindrance  of  digestion. 

Melons  contain  a  great  deal  of  water,  some  sugar,  and  a 
very  small  proportion  of  other  nutriment.  They  are,  how- 
ever, exceedingly  grateful  to  most  j)ersons,  particularly  in 
warm  weather,  and  if  ripe  and  fresh  may  generally  be  eaten 
even  in  enormous  quantities  with  impunity.  This  is  par- 
ticularly true  of  the  watermelon.  The  muskmelon,  if  eaten 
largely,  is  more  apt  than  the  watermelon  to  cause  diarrhoea, 
and  during  some  summers  has  a  decided  tendency  that 
way. 

Fruits  in  general  are  nutritious  and  healthful,  and  their 
free  use  should  be  encouraged.  With  us  they  are  generally 
eaten  at  the  latter  end  of  a  meal  and  at  the  close  of  the  day. 
Probably  the  reverse  of  both  of  these  practices  would  be 
better.  In  warm  countries  it  is  common  to  preface  the 
regular  breakfast  with  oranges  or  other  fruits,  and  the 
Spaniards  have  a  proverb,  doubtless  founded  on  experience, 
that  ^^fruit  is  gold  in  the  morning,  silver  at  noon,  and  lead 
at  night." 

Sugar  is  a  vegetable  product  and  a  very  necessary  article 
of  food.  It  is  especially  needed  by  children,  and  the  crav- 
ing that  nearly  every  child  has  for  sugar  and  sweet  things 
is  not  a  mere  fancy,  but  the  expression  of  a  great  physiologi- 
cal need  that  ought  to  be  satisfied.  It  is  a  popular  notion 
that  sugar  injures  the  teeth.  As  sugar  it  can  not  do  so,  for 
so  long  as  it  remains  unchanged  by  fermentation  its  tend- 
ency is  to  prevent  decay.  If  it  ferments  in  the  stomach  it 
may  give  rise  to  an  acid  that  will  injure  the  teeth  and  im- 
pair digestion,  but  in  a  healthy  stomach  it  is  not  likely  to 
ferment  unless  taken  in  excessive  quantity  or  in  connection 
with  something  else  that  is  in  a  state  of  fermentation. 

Very  much  of  the  sugar  now  sold  is  adulterated  with 
glucose.  This  is  a  substance,  not  at  all  unwholesome  nor 
in  itself  objectionable,  in  chemical  composition  very  closely 


THE  FOOD   WE  EAT.  61 

resembling  sugar.  The  principal  objection  to  it  is  that  it 
is  not  so  sweet  as  sugar. 

Candies,  when  made  of  pure  sugar,  glucose,  and  molasses, 
are  perfectly  wholesome.  Most  of  the  candies  sold,  howeyer, 
are  adulterated  with  yarious  substances,  some  of  them  in- 
nocent enough,  as  for  instance  starch  and  gum,  but  many 
of  them  more  or  less  injurious. 

Of  liquid  foods  milk  is  the  recognized  type,  since  it 
contains  in  itself  all  the  carbonaceous  and  nitrogenous 
elements,  in  a  form  capable  of  easy  and  rapid  digestion. 
Hence  it  must  constitute  the  almost  sole  food  of  infants  ; 
and  to  a  great  extent — ^.perhaps  the  greater  the  better — 
that  of  children.  It  should  also  enter  largely,  in  one  shape 
or  another,  into  that  of  adults. 

The  proportions  in  which  the  yarious  food-elements  are 
contained  in  the  milk  of  animals  of  different  sj)ecies,  and 
in  that  of  indiyiduals  of  the  same  species,  yary  considerably. 
As  the  ayerage  result  of  many  analyses  it  may  be  said  that, 
in  one  hundred  parts  of  unadulterated  milk,  there  will  be 
by  weight  from  eighty-four  to  ninety  of  water,  and  from 
ten  to  sixteen  of  solid  matter  of  yarious  kinds.  Of  this  solid 
matter,  in  the  entire  quantity,  there  will  be  from  three  to 
seyen  parts  of  nitrogenous  compounds,  three  to  five  of  su- 
gar, two  to  six  of  fat,  with  yery  minute  quantities  of  the 
salts  of  soda,  lime,  potash,  magnesia,  iron,  etc.  These 
salts,  though  yery  small  in  quantity,  are  of  great  impor- 
tance in  nutrition.  The  milk  of  the  mother  is  the  natural 
food  of  the  babe.  When  from  any  cause  this  can  not  be 
had,  or  only  had  in  insufficient  quantities,  either  from  the 
mother  herself  or  from  a  suitable  wet-nurse,  a  fair  sub- 
stitute may  be  prepared  from  pure  cow's  milk.  Woman's 
milk  contains  considerably  more  water  and  somewhat  more 
sugar  and  butter  than  that  of  the  cow  ;  hence,  in  preparing 
cow's  milk  for  the  food  of  the  infant,  about  one  third  of  the 
quantity  of  water  and  a  yery  little  sugar  are  commonly 


62  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

added.  A  better  plan  is  to  skim  the  cream  from  milk  ttiat 
has  stood  for  a  few  hours  and  is  perfectly  sweet,  and  add  to 
one  part  of  this  cream  "two  or  three  parts  of  water  and  a 
little  sugar.  Of  course,  the  cream  so  taken  will  be  more 
than  half  milk,  and  the  mixture  recommended  will  yery 
closely  resemble  the  natural  food  of  infants.  It  is  yery  de- 
sirable, and  should  be  insisted  on  wheneyer  possible,  that 
the  sugar  to  be  used  shall  be  sugar  of  milk  and  not  cane- 
sugar.  The  former  can  be  procured  at  most  drug-stores. 
It  is  much  less  liable  to  ferment  in  the  stomach  than  the 
latter. 

Milk  is  frequently  adulterated  with  water,  and  some- 
times, it  is  said,  with  chalk  and  other  substances.  The 
lactometer,  which  is  an  instrument  commonly  used  to  de- 
tect adulteration  of  milk  by  ascertaining  its  specific  grayity, 
is  by  no  means  a  certain  test,  for  in  the  first  place  the  sj)e- 
cific  grayity  of  milk  from  different  cows  varies  considerably, 
and  in  the  second  place,  if  the  cream  or  a  part  of  it  be  re- 
moved from  any  sample  of  milk,  its  specific  grayity  will  be 
increased,  and,  if  water  be  added  to  it,  its  specific  gravity 
will  be  lessened,  so  that  a  sample  of  milk  may  be  both 
skimmed  and  watered,  and  yet  the  lactometer  will  record 
the  weight  of  purity. 

Yery  little  impure  milk  is  now  sold  in  ]!^ew  York  city,  on 
account  of  the  stringency  of  the  law.  The  sale  of  skimmed 
milk  there  is  entirely  interdicted,  under  a  heavy  penalty, 
and  consequently  many  peoj^le  have  gotten  the  idea  that 
skimmed  milk  is  unwholesome.  It  is  certainly  not  desira- 
ble for  babies,  but  for  older  persons,  who  take  other  kinds 
of  food,  it  is  a  very  healthful  drink. 

Tea  and  coffee  are  not  strictly  food,  for  they  supply  noth- 
ing to  the  tissues  of  the  body,  except  in  the  small  quantity 
of  milk  and  sugar  sometimes  taken  with  them,  but  by  di- 
minishing the  waste  of  the  system  they  lessen  the  quantity 
of  food  required.     At  the  same  time  they  cause  a  slight 


TEE  FOOL  WE  EAT.  03 

neryoiis  excitement,  to  be  followed  by  reaction,  and  this  in 
many  persons,  when  long  continued,  causes  a  considerable 
neryous  depression. 

Ground  coffee  is  very  generally  adulterated,  but  very 
rarely  with  substances  that  are  actually  deleterious.  The 
most  common  adulterant  is  chiccory,  which  is  perfectly 
wholesome. 

Teas  are  almost  sure  to  be  adulterated.  In  this  art  the 
Chinese  have  attained  a  marvelous  degree  of  skill.  Even 
the  varieties  of  ^'  black  tea  "  are  mixed  with  other  kinds  of 
leaves.  They  have  also  what  they  call  "lie-tea,"  composed 
of  a  little  tea-dust  and  foreign  leaves,  with  more  or  less  of 
sand,  quartz,  and  magnetic  oxide  of  iron,  all  made  up  by 
means  of  a  solution  of  starch  into  little  masses  in  imitation 
of  different  kinds  of  tea.  If  this  lie-tea  is  used  for  the 
adulteration  of  black  tea,  it  may  not  be  positively  injurious  ; 
if  used  in  green  tea  the  masses  are  usually  "  faced  "  with 
Prussian-blue,  indigo,  and  other  poisonous  matters^  to  give 
them  the  desired  color.  Teas  not  unfrequently  undergo 
a  further  process  of  "doctoring  "  after  they  leave  the  hands 
of  the  importer,  and  before  they  come  to  the  consumer. 

Of  condiments,  the  only  one  that  is  a  necessary  article 
of  food  is  salt.  That  it  is  necessary  has  been  shown  by  re- 
peated experiments,  as  well  as .  by  its  presence  as  a  compo- 
nent part  of  every  tissue  and  fluid  of  the  body  except  the 
enamel  of  the  teeth.  Besides  its  direct  nutritive  value,  it 
promotes  appetite  and  digestion,  and  is  reputed  to  have 
very  decided  anti-malarial  properties. 

The  various  spices  are  used  simply  to  please  the  palate. 
By  their  irritating  properties  they  stimulate  the  flow  of 
saliva,  aud  it  is  possible  that  in  the  same  way  they  may 
promote  the  flow  of  other  digestive  fluids  and  thus  aid  in 
digestion  when  used  in  moderate  quantities,  but  when  used 
largely  they  are  apt  to  irritate  the  stomach  too  much,  and 
thus  disorder  digestion. 


VII. 

LIGHTING  AND  WAEMING. 

The  adyantages  of  gas  for  public  illumination  are 
great  and  undeniable.  For  the  lighting  of  private  dwell- 
ings it  is  in  many  respects,  and  to  a  considerable  extent, 
more  conyenient  than  any  other  material.  But,  in  a  sani- 
tary point  of  yiew,  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether  its  use 
has  not  produced  more  harm  than  good. 

Not  to  dwell  upon  minor  eyils — such  as  the  prolonging 
of  working  hours  far  into  the  night,  thus  giving  to  work 
many  hours  which  properly  belong  to  sleep,  and  to  sleep 
many  hours  which  belong  to  work,  the  actual  escape  of 
gas  into  rooms  by  the  leakage  of  the  pipes,  or  by  careless- 
ness in  shutting  off  the  jets  when  the  light  is  to  be  ex- 
tinguished, and  such  like  "accidents" — the  great  sanitary 
evil  connected  with  the  use  of  gas  for  household  lighting 
arises  from  the  fact  of  its  enormous  consumption  of  oxy- 
gen. A  single  gas-burner  vitiates,  while  in  operation,  as 
much  air  as  is  vitiated  by  the  breathing  of  several  jDcrsons. 
That  is,  it  takes  from  the  air  so  much  of  the  oxygen,  con- 
verting it  into  forms  in  which  it  is  irrespirable,  and  thus 
compels  a  greatly  increased  care  in  ventilation  in  order  to 
maintain  the  atmosphere  of  a  room  or  a  house  in  a  state  of 
purity.  But  it  is  vain  to  expect  that  the  use  of  gas  for 
household  illumination  will  decrease — will  not,  in  fact, 
increase — unless  it  should  be  to  a  greater  or  less  extent 
superseded  by  some  of  the  modes  of  electric  lighting  which 


LIGHTING  AND    WARMING.  65 

are  now  undergoing  the  processes  of  experiment  and 
trial. 

The  most  which  we  can  now  do  is  to  obviate,  as  far 
as  we  may,  the  undeniable  eyils  attendant  upon  lighting 
by  gas.  One  sweeping  measure,  which  would,  if  practica- 
ble, go  far  to  this  end,  has  been  proposed.  We  are  gravely 
assured  that  '^no  gas-burner  should  exist  in  any  room 
unless  a  tube  of  zinc  or  iron  is  placed  over  it  to  carry  off 
the  deleterious  products  of  combustion,  and  convey  them 
at  once  into  the  open  air."  There  are  few  cases  in  which 
this  would  be  practicable  even  in  large  buildings  ;  in  ordi- 
nary household  lighting  it  is  wholly  out  of  the  question ; 
as  much  so  as  if  in  our  houses  we  were  directed  to  breathe 
only  through  a  tube  one  end  of  which  should  be  in  the 
mouth  and  the  other  in  the  open  air  outside  of  the  walls. 
In  either  case  the  products  of  combustion  would  be  effect- 
ually carried  from  the  room.  Chemists,  in  their  laborato- 
ries, do  this  in  effect,  to  get  rid  of  the  noxious  emanations 
often  evolved  in  their  experiments  and  operations.  But, 
practically,  the  air  vitiated  by  gas-combustion,  as  well  as  by 
breathing,  must  go  into  the  room,  and  be  thence  discharged 
by  the  ordinary  modes  of  ventilation. 

No  gas-burner,  therefore,  should  be  allowed  in  a  room 
that  is  not  well  ventilated,  and  the  number  of  burners  to 
be  allowed  in  any  room  should  be  limited  by  the  size  of  the 
room  and  its  facilities  for  ventilation.  That  is  to  say,  for 
each  ordinary  gas-jet  as  much  fresh  air  must  be  supplied 
as  would  be  needed  by  three  or  four  persons. 

The  flickering  of  gaslight  is  a  very  objectionable  feature, 
especially  if  it  is  used  for  reading  or  writing.  On  this 
account  refined  kerosene-oil  is  preferable  to  gas  for  these 
purposes.  The  higher  grades  of  this  oil,  commonly  known 
as  *^ astral"  or  ^^ head-light"  oil,  give  a  clear,  steady  light, 
they  are  more  manageable  than  gas,  and  with  ordinary  care 
are  almost,  if  not  quite,  devoid  of  danger.     The  lower 


QQ  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

gi'ades  should  never  be  allowed  in  the  house,  since  they  are 
almost  as  explosive  as  gunpowder  and  more  inflammable, 
they  give  very  j^ooi'  light  with  an  offensive  smell,  and 
their  sole  recommendation  of  cheapness  is  largely  decep- 
tive, for  they  burn  much  more  raj)idly  than  the  highly 
refined  oil. 

Candles  are  now  so  little  used  for  general  illuminating 
purposes  that  their  importance  is  quite  secondary.  The 
same  general  princijoles  are  applicable  to  their  use  as  to  that 
of  gas  or  oil.  Some  lights  consume  more  oxygen  in  pro- 
portion to  their  intensity  than  others,  but  practically  the 
amount  of  fresh  air  required  may  be  approximately  esti- 
mated by  the  degree  of  light.  That  is  to  say,  the  number 
of  candles  or  lamps  necessary  to  furnish  a  light  as  powerful 
as  that  of  a  gas-jet  will  need  about  the  same  amount  of 
ventilation  as  the  latter. 

In  reading,  one  should  sit,  if  possible,  with  the  face 
turned  from  the  light,  allowing  it  to  fall  over  the  shoulder 
upon  the  paper.  In  writing,  if  the  light  stands  upon  the 
table,  this  is  rarely  practicable,  and,  if  it  were,  would  cast 
the  shadow  of  the  hand  on  the  paper.  Therefore,  in  such 
circumstances  it  is  always  best  to  protect  the  eyes  of  the 
writer  by  a  shade  either  worn  like  a  visor  over  the  eyes,  or 
else  partially  covering  the  lamp  in  such  a  way  as  to  inter- 
pose between  the  flame  and  the  eyes  and  yet  let  the  light 
fall  freely  upon  the  paper.  It  is  always  better,  provided 
the  light  is  strong  enough,  that  it  should  come  from  above, 
as  the  eyes  are  then  protected  by  their  natural  curtains. 

In  tropical  regions  there  is  no  need  to  make  artificial  ar- 
rangements for  warming  a  dwelling  :  ISTature  has  done  that 
in  superfluity  ;  but,  as  we  recede  from  the  equator  in  either 
direction,  this  necessity  begins  to  manifest  itself  more  and 
more,  so  that  there  are  within  the  temperate  zones  few 
places  in  which  a  fire  in  the  house  is  not  at  times  desir- 
able.    The  farther  we  go  from  the  equator,  the  more  press- 


LIGETING  AND    WARMING.  67 

ing  does  this  demand  b.ecome;,  until  it  is  absolutely  impera- 
tive for  greater  or  less  portions  of  the  year. 

The  original  mode  of  house-warming  was  doubtless  to 
build  a  fire  in  the  center  of  the  hut  or  tent,  leaving  the 
smoke  to  find  its  way  out  as  best  it  could  after  pervading 
the  whole  interior ;  and  this  is  the  method  still  practiced 
among  savage  tribes.  Some  inventive  genius  added  a 
chimney  for  carrying  off  the  smoke.  It  was  found  that 
the  chimney  not  only  carried  off  the  smoke,  but  added 
greatly  to  the  activity  of  the  fire  itself.  The  primitive 
mode  of  warming  in  time  became  developed  into  the  great 
fireplace  with  its  massive  andirons,  which  we  know  so  well 
by  observation  or  description. 

To  be  sure,  the  great  fireplace  demanded  an  enormous 
supply  of  fuel  to  produce  a  tolerable  amount  of  warming. 
But,  so  long  as  fuel  was  abundant,  this  was  of  comparatively 
little  importance,  although  the  mere  work  of  felling  the 
trees,  hauling  the  logs  to  the  wood-pile,  cutting  and  split- 
ting them  into  manageable  size  and  shape,  formed  no 
inconsiderable  part  of  the  year's  work.  But  fortunately 
this  part  of  the  work  could  be  best  done — at  least  on  our 
side  of  the  Atlantic — at  a  season  when  the  farmer  had,  or 
thought  he  had,  little  else  that  he  could  do. 

The  worst  of  these  great  chimney-fires  was  that,  be  they 
as  large  as  they  might,  they  only  warmed  a  small  part  of  a 
large  room,  while  the  keen  air  from  without  found  abun- 
dant means  to  enter  and  hold  sway  over  the  rest  of  the  apart- 
ment. Sitting  before  the  fire,  one's  face  and  ribs  might  be 
half -roasted,  while  his  neck  and  back  were  half -frozen.  To 
go  from  the  fireplace  to  the  door  was  like  passing  in  an 
instant  from  India's  coral  strand  to  Greenland's  icy  mount- 
ains. Moreover,  the  chimney  itself  seemed  at  times  to  set 
itself  at  work  to  give  an  exemplification  of  *^  the  total  de- 
pravity of  inanimate  things."  Sometimes,  without  any 
apparent  reason,  it  would  not  ^^draw"  at  all,  and  no  per- 


68  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

suading  of  the  bellows  would  keej)  the  fire  burning. 
Sometimes  it  would  draw  the  wrong  way,  sending  the 
smoke  down  and  out  into  the  room  in  dense  clouds,  to  the 
no  small  discomfort  of  eyes  and  lungs.  It  is  probable  that 
around  these  fire-sides  more  tears  have  been  shed  by  reason 
of  smoky  chimneys  than  for  the  loss  of  friends  and  kindred. 
Still,  in  spite  of  all  drawbacks,  the  old-fashioned  fireplace 
answered  its  main  purpose — that  of  warming  the  room — 
pretty  fairly,  except  on  the  yery  coldest  days ;  and  as  for 
ventilation,  nobody  thought  of  that,  or,  indeed,  had  any  occa- 
sion to  think  of  it.  So  for  generation  after  generation  the 
sons  built  their  fireplaces  and  chimneys  just  as  their  fa- 
thers had  done,  quite  content  to  let  well  enough  alone. 

The  grate  had  its  origin  when  coal  began  to  take  the 
place  of  wood  as  fuel,  and  of  course  in  England.  The  coal 
would  not  lie  upon  the  andirons,  and  so  there  must  be  an 
iron  cage  to  hold  it.  The  open  gi'ate  shares  with  the  open 
fireplace  the  objection  that  in  very  cold  weather  no  single 
grate  is  sufficient  to  heat  a  very  large  room.  In  the  best- 
constructed  grates  more  than  three  quarters  of  the  heat 
produced  goes  u^^  the  chimney,  and  is  lost  for  all  warming 
purposes.  For  those  to  whom  the  saving  of  expense  is  no 
object,  this  defect  -may  be  remedied  by  having  two  grates, 
at  opposite  ends  of  the  room,  which  will  thus  be  sufficiently 
and  quite  uniformly  warmed  throughout.  Nothing  can  be 
more  pleasant  than  a  large  apartment  thus  warmed ;  and 
with  the  provision  of  means  for  the  admission  of  fresh  air, 
the  chimneys  furnish  ventilation  as  perfect  as  could  be 
asked  for. 

The  so-called  '^Franklin  stove  "was  a  great  improve- 
ment upon  the  common  grate.  In  Franklin's  time  coal 
had  not  begun  to  be  used  in  this  country  as  fuel.  The 
original  Franklin  stove  was  designed  solely  for  burning 
wood.  He  rightly  inferred  that  the  heating  power  of  a  fire 
of  a  given  size  and  intensity  was  just  in  the  ratio  of  the 


LIGHTING  AND    WARMING.  69 

Keating  surface  exposed.  His  stove  was  simply  an  open 
grate  with  iron  sides^  set  partly  out  into  the  room  instead 
of  being  built  wholly  into  the  chimney.  The  heating  sur- 
face was  thus  increased  by  perhaps  a  third  or  a  half,  aug- 
menting by  so  much  the  useful  heating  power  of  a  given 
quantity  of  fuel  burned  in  it. 

But  what  we  now  know  as  the  Franklin  stove  is  a  very 
different  thing  from  that  devised  by  Franklin.  A  modifi- 
cation of  this,  shown  at  the  Philadelphia  Centennial  Exhi- 
bition of  1876,  and  styled  ^^The  Fire  on  the  Hearth,"  is 
one  of  the  best  of  the  improved  Franklin  stoves.  It  is  an 
open  stove  with  double  sides  and  back,  at  some  little  dis- 
tance apart.  The  space  between  the  two  casings  is  open  at 
the  bottom,  having  a  perforated  iron  cover  at  the  top. 
Fresh  air  is  introduced  from  without  by  means  of  a  wooden 
box-tube  opening  under  the  stove.  The  air  rises  into  the 
interspace  between  the  casings,  where  it  is  warmed  by  the 
heat  of  the  stove,  and  passes  up  into  the  room,  in  gentle 
currents,  through  the  perforated  cover. 

Close  stoves  are  usually  found  only  in  rooms  as  tightly 
shut  up  as  possible.  They  indeed  effect  a  considerable  sav- 
ing in  fuel,  since  they  expose  their  entire  surface  to  the 
air  of  the  room,  and  so  a  much  less  amount  of  the  generated 
heat  goes  up  the  chimney.  The  heated  air  rises  to  the  top 
of  the  room,  where  it  remains  if  there  is  no  provision  made 
for  its  egress.  The  cold  air  in  the  room,  and  that  intro- 
duced through  cracks  and  crevices  or  by  the  occasional 
opening  of  the  door,  sinks  to  the  bottom,  and  remains  there 
scarcely  warmed  at  all.  In  the  extremely  cold  climate  of 
Canada,  we  are  told  that  it  is  not  uncommon  to  find  such 
a  room  in  which  water  will  freeze  on  the  floor,  while  at  the 
ceiling  the  thermometer  indicates  a  temperature  of  100°. 

The  ceiling  of  such  a  room  is  usually  low,  so  that,  when 
a  person  stands  erect,  his  head  is  in  an  atmosphere  uncom- 
fortably warm,  while  his  feet  are  in  one  uncomfortably 


70  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

cold.  A  considerable  improyement  in  the  ordinary  close 
stove  would  be  to  make  the  sides  double,  as  in  the  ^^Fire  on 
the  Hearth  "  just  described.  The  cold  air  at  the  floor  would 
then  rise  into  the  heated  interspace,  and  being  heated  there 
would  ascend,  thus  establishing  somewhat  of  an  equilibrium 
between  the  temperature  at  the  floor  and  at  the  ceiling. 

Two  prominent  evils  are  frequently  connected  with  the 
use  of  close  stoves.  One  is  the  excessive  drying  of  the  air 
in  the  rooms  where  they  are  used.  This  is  a  common  cause 
of  dryness  of  the  lips  and  throat,  thirst,  headache,  languor, 
and  general  malaise,  in  persons  who  sit  in  rooms  thus 
warmed.  It  can  very  easily  be  prevented  by  keeping  a  little 
water  in  an  urn  or  other  vessel  on  the  stove.  Many  stoves 
are  provided  with  urns  for  this  purpose.  It  is  only  neces- 
sary that  the  water  should  be  kept  slightly  warm  to  facili- 
tate evaporation.  It  should  not  be  hot  enough  to  produce 
visible  steam. 

The  other  evil  is  the  escape  of  noxious  gases  from  the 
stove  into  the  room.  This  may  occur  from  imperfection 
of  the  chimney-draught,  from  too  great  length  of  stove-pii^e, 
from  the  closing  of  dampers  to  check  the  activity  of  the 
fire,  from  imperfect  joints  or  cracks  in  the  pipe  or  in  the 
stove  itself,  or  sometimes,  if  the  stove  is  of  cast-iron,  by 
permeation  of  the  gases  through  the  hot  iron.  A  little 
observation  will  commonly  determine  the  cause,  and  the 
remedy  is  then  obvious. 

There  is  always  need  of  greater  care  in  ventilating  a 
room  heated  by  a  close  stove  than  in  one  heated  by  an  open 
fire.  A  well- ventilated  room,  with  a  faulty  stove,  may  be  a 
tolerably  healthful  one  ;  an  ill- ventilated  room,  with  the 
best  conceivable  stove,  miist  be  an  unhealthful  one. 

The  common  hot-air  furnace  is  essentially  a  large  in- 
closed stove  placed  in  the  basement,  and  having  flues  lead- 
ing to  the  different  rooms  to  be  wholly  or  in  part  warmed 
by  it.     These  flues  are  provided  with  registers  and  valves 


LIGHTING  AND    WARMING.  71 

by  which  the  entire  amount  of  heated  air  may,  if  wished, 
be  thrown  into  either  of  these  rooms.  A  furnace  is  a  very 
convenient  adjunct  to  the  ordinary  heating  apparatus  of  a 
home  in  our  northern  latitudes,  where,  during  very  cold 
days,  there  is  not  sufficient  fire  to  fully  heat  the  various 
rooms  and  passages  to  a  proper  temperature. 

A  hot-air  furnace  is,  however,  by  no  means  an  unmixed 
blessing.  The  hot  air  delivered  by  it  is  nearly  always  more 
or  less  contaminated  with  deleterious  gases,  and  in  many 
cases  it  is  much  too  dry  to  be  suitable  for  breathing.  Be- 
sides, the  mode  of  diffusing  the  heat  is  entirely  by  convec- 
tion, the  amount  radiated  from  the  metal  of  the  register 
and  conducted  through  the  walls  from  the  flues  being  so 
small  that  it  may  practically  be  disregarded.  The  hot  air 
rises  at  once  to  the  top  of  the  room,  and,  unless  there  is 
some  unusual  mechanism  for  distributing  it,  remains  there 
until  it  is  cooled.  In  the  absence  of  any  considerable  ra- 
diating surface  the  floor  and  the  lower  stratum  of  air  in 
the  room  remain  cold.  In  short,  the  evils  of  the  close 
stove  are  intensified  by  the  hot-air  furnace.  Add  to  this 
that  the  furnace  is  liable,  like  any  stove,  to  get  out  of  order 
and  be  temporarily  unfit  for  use,  in  which  case  a  longer 
time  must  commonly  elapse  before  repairs  can  be  made 
than  in  the  case  of  an  ordinary  stove,  and  in  the  mean  time 
the  whole  house  is  cold.  If  a  stove  gives  out  unexpectedly, 
the  want  of  it  usually  affects  only  one  or  two  rooms,  and 
can  readily  be  supplied. 

These  considerations  have,  of  late  years,  produced  a 
wholesome  revulsion  of  feeling  against  the  use  of  hot-air 
furnaces,  at  least  as  the  main  dependence  for  house-warm- 
ing. In  the  mean  time  the  improvements  in  self -feeding 
stoves  render  it  possible  to  obtain  most  of  the  advantages 
of  furnace-heat  with  comparatively  few  of  its  disadvantages. 
If  a  furnace  is  to  be  used  at  all,  it  is  of  the  utmost  impor- 
tance to  provide  for  a  sufficient  supply  of  moisture  in  the 


72  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

air.  This  can  be  done  by  placing  sufficient  water  where  the 
air  can  get  at  it.  Put  water  in  the  room  to  be  heated,  and 
eyen  in  the  interior  of  the  furnace  itself,  bearing  in  mind 
that  the  quantity  of  water  taken  up  by  eyaporation  is  in  pro- 
portion to  the  amount  of  surface  exposed  to  the  air,  not  to 
the  quantity  of  water  contained  in  the  yessel.  Put  the 
water,  therefore,  into  large  shallow  pans,  renewing  the  sup- 
ply as  often  as  necessary.  Do  this  judiciously,  and  one  will 
haye  no  further  occasion  to  complain  of  the  dryness  of  the 
furnace-air. 

There  are  yarious  methods  of  heating  by  steam,  in 
themselyes  preferable  to  any  which  haye  been  described ; 
but  the  size  and  cost  of  the  necessary  apparatus  preyent, 
and  probably  will  preyent,  its  introduction  into  ordinary 
dwellings,  and  will  confine  its  use  to  large  mansions,  pub- 
lic buildings,  manufactories,  and  the  like. 

The  proper  temperature  to  be  maintained,  in  all  rooms 
where  people  sit,  is  from  65°  to  70°  Fahrenheit,  or  about 
18°  to  21°  centigrade.  Eyery  such  room  should  be  fur- 
nished with  a  thermometer,  and  this  should  hang  or  stand 
at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  source  of  heat,  and 
about  midway  between  floor  and  ceiling.  It  should  not  be  in 
contact  with  the  wall,  or  with  any  object  that  is  liable  to  be 
of  a  different  temperature  from  the  air  of  the  room.  The 
heat  should  then  be  regulated  strictly  by  the  thermometer. 
There  are  occasions,  as  in  certain  forms  of  sickness,  when  a 
different  temperature  is  desirable,  but  these  come  under  the 
cognizance  of  the  physician,  and  should  always  be  deter- 
mined by  him. 

It  is  often  said  that  the  temperature  of  sleeping-rooms 
should  be  considerably  lower  than  that  of  sitting-rooms. 
It  may  be  so  with  safety,  and  perhaps  with  profit,  in  many 
cases.  Por  those  who  are  strong,  howeyer,  it  is  not  a  mat- 
ter of  much  consequence,  and  for  thosfe  who  are  weak  the 
danger  from  dressing  and  undressing  in  a  cold  room  is  con- 


LIGETma  AND   WARMmO.  73 

siderable.  For  tlie  latter  class  of  persons,  if  the  bedroom 
is  at  all  cool,  there  should  be  always  a  warm  dressing-room 
adjoining. 

Probably  the  chief  advantage  of  a  cold  bedroom  is  the 
absence  of  the  nnhealthful  gases  and  dry  air  that  are  fre- 
quently found  in  heated  rooms.  The  partial  cooling,  at 
night,  of  a  room  that  has  been  heated  during  the  day,  also 
tends  to  purify  the  air  by  changing  the  direction  of  its 
currents  and  by  the  introduction  of  a  larger  quantity.  In 
rooms  that  are  imperfectly  ventilated,  therefore,  it  is  better 
that  the  temperature  should  be  lowered  at  night,  and  this 
rule  applies  in  some  degree  to  other  rooms  as  well  as  bed- 
rooms. On  this  account,  ifc  is  better  that  such  rooms  should 
not  be  warmed  by  self -feeding  stoves.  A  preferable  arrange- 
ment is  one  by  which  a  little  fire  can  be  made  just  before 
the  room  is  to  be  used,  and  then  allowed  to  die  out.  Such 
rooms,  however,  are  never  fit  for  sleeping-rooms,  and  should 
never  be  used  as  such  except  in  the  direst  necessity.  Pro- 
vided the  air  in  a  sleeping-room  can  be  kept  reasonably 
pure,  the  temperature  may  be  determined  entirely  by  the 
sense  of  personal  comfort. 

4 


VIII. 

DISINFECTANTS. 

DisiKFECTAKTS  are  certain  substances  or  forces  wliicli 
have  the  property  of  nentralizing  or  destroying  contagions 
and  miasms.  A  contagion  is  a  product  of  disease^,  capable 
of  communicating  the  disease  to  a  healthy  body  by  actual 
contact.  Such  are  the  yirus  of  small-pox  and  that  of  hy- 
drophobia, etc.  A  miasm  is  an  emanation  capable  of  in- 
ducino'  disease  in  those  to  whom  it  is  carried  in  the  air  or 
by  some  other  vehicle.  The  miasms  against  which  disin- 
fectants are  commonly  directed  are,  like  contagions,  the 
products  of  certain  diseases,  and  capable  of  communicating 
the  same  diseases.  Both  contagions  and  miasms  may  be 
absorbed,  and  held  for  a  considerable  time  without  losing 
their  virulence,  by  garments  or  other  porous  substances. 

The  chemical  constitution  of  contagions  and  miasms  is 
not  known.  It  is  thought  to  be  of  organic  character,  how- 
ever, and  in  every  known  instance  seems  to  be  capable  of 
decomposition  in  much  the  same  manner  as  organic  com- 
pounds in  general.  Such  decomposition  takes  place  usually 
by  means  of  oxidation.  All  agents,  therefore,  which  fayor 
the  combination  of  oxygen  with  other  substances  are  disin- 
fectants, more  or  less  efl&cient  in  proportion  to  the  activity 
with  which  they  promote  oxidation. 

Another  mode  of  disinfection  is  by  dilution  of  the  poi- 
sonous principle.  The  matter  containing  this  principle 
may  become  so  attenuated,  by  admixture  with  air,  water. 


DISINFECTANTS,  75 

or  almost  any  other  substance  tlirough  which  it  can  be 
disseminated,  as  to  be  practically  innocuous,  while,  con- 
versely, the  danger  of  infection  is  always  greater  in  propor- 
tion to  the  concentration  of  infectious  material,  as  exem- 
plified in  many  crowded  hospitals,  ships,  prisons,  tenement- 
houses,  etc.  The  practical  application  of  this  for  home  use 
is  that  frequent  washing  of  the  bodies  and  clothing  of  those 
who  are  sick  of  infectious  diseases  and  of  those  also  who 
are  exposed  to  the  infection,  and  the  freest  possible  ventila- 
tion, are  valuable  disinfectant  measures.  At  the  same  time 
it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  these  measures  are  but  pal- 
liative, that  there  are  some  infections  which  an  ordinary 
washing  will  not  remove,  and  that  the  very  steam  from  a 
washing  or  the  current  of  air  that  has  passed  over  an  in- 
fected object  often  carries  the  infection  in  a  sufficiently  con- 
centrated form  to  reproduce  the  disease. 

Among  Nature's  disinfectants  are  cold  and  heat,  and  she 
often  employs  these  upon  a  grand  scale.  Thus  malaria,  the 
local  cause  of  yellow  fever  and  of  ague,  is  deprived  of  its 
noxious  power  by  a  single  hard  frost.  Cholera,  however 
it  may  have  been  introduced  into  temperate  regions,  usually 
disappears  on  the  approach  of  winter.  Practically  we  can 
make  but  little  use  of  cold  as  a  disinfectant,  while  we  can 
make  large  use  of  heat. 

The  ancients  were  well  aware  that  heat  was  antagonistic 
to  infection  ;  so  they  built  large  fires  in  the  streets  to  ward 
off  or  drive  away  the  plague.  Pliny  says,  "  In  heat  itself 
there  is  a  certain  medicatory  virtue.^'  The  experiments  of 
modern  science  have  more  than  confirmed  the  ancient  specu- 
lations. In  1824  Dr.  Henry  found  that  the  virus  of  small- 
pox in  clothing  was  destroyed  by  exposing  the  garments  to 
a  temperature  of  from  140°  to  200°  Fahr.  In  1851  Dr.  von 
Busch,  of  Berlin,  made  trials  of  heat  in  a  large  hospital  of 
which  he  had  the  charge,  where  an  infectious  fever  was 
alarmingly  prevalent  in  some  of  the  wards.     After  trying 


76  EEALTE  AT  HOME. 

in  vaiji  all  the  usual  methods  of  fumigation,  he  caused  the 
patients  to  be  remoyed,  and  the  wards  heated  to  a  tempera- 
ture of  150°.  The  patients  were  then  brought  back,  and 
not  a  single  new  case  of  the  fever  occurred. 

Similar  successful  experiments  haye  been  made  for  ex- 
tirpating the  yirus  of  yellow  feyer  in  large  vessels.  The 
hatches  were  closed,  and  superheated  steam  was  introduced 
into  the  hold.  Good  use  was  also  made  of  superheated 
steam  in  New  York  hospitals  during  the  cholera  season  of 
1866. 

Heat  is  beyond  doubt  the  very  best  means  of  disinfec- 
tion, where  it  can  be  thoroughly  applied.  But  in  ordinary 
dwellings  the  adequate  employment  of  this  great  disin- 
fectant must  be  very  limited,  and  recourse  must  be  had  to 
more  conyenient  methods,  which,  while  they  rarely  wholly 
destroy  the  noxious  element  that  produces  disease,  will,  to 
some  extent,  do  away  with  the  conditions  favoring  its  fur- 
ther increase  and  dissemination,  and  thus  will  effect  some 
good — although  probably  much  less  than  is  generally  sup- 
posed. But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  mere  perfumes, 
as  such,  are  in  no  sense  disinfectants.  They  merely  hide 
the  presence  of  noxious  effluvia,  but  do  nothing  to  destroy 
them.  They  only  replace  an  unpleasant  odor  by  a  pleasant 
one. 

There  are  almost  innumerable  artificial  disinfectants, 
bearing  high-sounding  names.  Some  of  these  have  a  cer- 
tain value  ;  others  are  worse  than  useless,  because  they  in- 
duce a  false  feeling  of  security,  and  thus  prevent  the  use  of 
more  appropriate  means  of  disinfection. 

Dr.  Eichardson,  of  London,  who  is  high  authority  upon 
sanitary  questions,  after  describing  some  of  what  he  con- 
siders the  best  methods  of  disinfection,  adds  emphatically  : 
'^  While  these  different  means  of  purifying  the  air  are  put 
forward  as  of  immediate  service,  it  should  always  be  remem- 
bered that  they  are  temporary  measures — nothing  more. 


LISINFECTANTS.  Y7 

They  are  not  intended  to  take  tlie  place  of  thorough  and 
efficient  ventilation.  In  fact,  in  the  presence  of  perfect 
ventilation  of  good  natural  air,  they  are  not  required  at 
all ;  and,  when  they  are  called  for,  the  necessity  of  better 
ventilation,  as  the.  permanent  remedy,  is  at  once  ex- 
plained." 

Chloride  of  lime  is  one  of  the  commonest  and  most  effi- 
cient disinfectants.  It  acts  as  such  by  giving  up  its  chlo- 
rine to  unite  with  the  hydrogen  of  organic  substances,  thus 
destroying  the  latter  and  setting  free  a  portion  of  fcheir 
oxygen.  This  effect  will  be  produced  whenever  chloride  of 
lime  is  exposed  to  the  air,  and  will  continue  until  its  chlo- 
rine is  all  discharged.  In  the  mean  time,  the  lime  com- 
bines with  a  portion  of  the  carbonic  acid  in  the  atmosphere 
to  form  carbonate  of  lime.  When  this  point  has  been 
reached,  it  is  entirely  useless  for  further  disinfecting  pur- 
poses ;  therefore  it  is  best  to  procure  it  only  in  small  quan- 
tities as  desired  for  immediate  use,  and,  when  to  be  kept 
for  any  time,  it  is  necessary  to  put  it  up  in  very  closely- 
stoppered  bottles.  One  advantage  of  chloride  of  lime  for  use 
in  ill-ventilated  places  is  that  it  not  only  destroys  infection 
but  also  purifies  the  air  to  some  extent  by  setting  free 
oxygen  and  absorbing  carbonic-acid  gas.  If  it  is  desired 
to  hasten  the  action  of  this  disinfectant,  vinegar  or  dilute 
sulphuric  acid  may  be  added  to  it. 

Sulphate  of  iron,  commonly  known  as  copperas,  is  an- 
other common  disinfectant,  and  an  excellent  one.  Its 
special  advantages  are  that  it  is  very  cheap,  is  safe  and  easily 
managed,  and  is  inodorous.  It  causes  the  oxidation  of  all 
dead  organic  matter  with  which  it  comes  in  contact.  Its 
own  decomposition  in  ordinary  circumstances  is  not  rapid 
enough  to  directly  affect  the  atmosphere  very  greatly,  and 
therefore  it  is  best  adapted  to  the  disinfection  of  liquids 
and  solids  with  which  it  can  be  brought  into  direct  contact, 
either  in  its  crystalline  form  or  in  solution  in  water.    Either 


78  EEALTH  AT  ROME. 

this  or  tlie  cliloride  of  lime  should  be  used  in  larger  quan- 
tities than  is  generally  done  to  get  the  best  effects. 

For  the  disinfection  of  sewers  and  priyies,  a  pound  of 
the  sulphate  of  iron  or  chloride  of  lime,  diffused  in  a  gallon 
of  water,  will  answer  for  a  large  amount  of  foul  matter. 
Eooms  which  are  occupied  may  be  disinfected  by  jijlacing  a 
little  fresh  chloride  of  lime  in  saucers  in  convenient  places 
in  the  room.  Articles  of  clothing  which  are  not  yery  much 
contaminated  may  be  disinfected  by  exposing  them  to  a 
high  temperature,  or  by  boiling  them  in  a  solution  of  per- 
manganate of  potassa,  one  ounce  to  three  gallons  of  water. 
Garments  and  bedding  which  haye  been  greatly  contami- 
nated, especially  by  small-pox,  should,  howeyer,  inyariably 
be  burned. 

Sulphurous  acid,  in  the  form  of  yapor,  is  an  extremely 
efficient  and  prompt  disinfectant.  It  acts,  like  chlorine, 
by  combination  with  the  hydrogen  of  organic  substances. 
It  is  an  irrespirable  yapor,  howeyer,  in  small  quantities 
causing  choking  and  coughing,  and  in  quantities  sufficient 
for  disinfecting  purposes  being  destructiye  of  all  animal 
life.  It  is,  therefore,  incapable  of  seryice  in  a  room  that 
is  occupied,  but  is  inyaluable  for  the  final  disinfection  of 
rooms  that  haye  been  vacated.  It  is  produced  by  burning 
sulphur  in  the  air.  The  room  to  be  disinfected  should 
have  all  the  windows  closed  and  all  doors  but  one.  Then, 
an  iron  or  earthen  pan  containing  coals  of  fire  being  placed 
in  the  room,  a  few  small  pieces  of  brimstone  or  roll-sulphur 
are  scattered  upon  the  coals,  and  the  person  who  does  this 
immediately  leaves  the  room  and  closes  the  last  door.  In 
the  course  of  two  or  three  hours,  the  fire  having  in  the 
mean  time  exhausted  itself,  doors  and  windows  are  to  be 
thrown  open  to  admit  fresh  air,  and  remove  the  remaining 
vapor  and  the  smell  of  sulphur. 

Furniture,  clothing,  etc.,  may  be  disinfected  by  being 
left  in  the  room  during  this  fumigation.    It  should  be  re- 


DISmFEGTANTS.  79 

membered,  howeyer,  tliat  sulpliurous  acid  is  a  powerful 
bleacher,  and  that  many  fabrics  will  therefore  be  ruined  by 
its  action. 

Of  late  years  carbolic  acid  (which  is  obtained  by  the 
distillation  of  coal-tar)  has  become  the  most  common  dis- 
infectant, and  is  believed  to  possess  more  than  any  other 
the  property  of  destroying  minute  animal  and  vegetable 
organisms  in  the  air  and  elsewhere.  But  Dr.  Eichardson 
is  earnest  in  his  recommendation  of  iodine,  which  he  con- 
siders better  than  any  other  means  for  disinfecting  the  air 
of  water-closets  and  other  small  rooms.  He  also  gives  a 
very  cheap  and  simple  method  of  using  this  disinfectant : 

Get  from  the  apothecary  a  common  chip  ointment-box, 
of  about  an  inch  and  a  half  in  diameter ;  take  off  the  lid  of 
the  box,  and  remove  the  top  of  it,  so  that  the  ring  part 
only  remains  ;  put  into  the  body  of  the  box  two  drachms' 
weight  of  pure  iodine  (that  is,  the  metalloid  itself,  not  its 
tincture  or  spirituous  solution) ;  stretch  a  bit  of  muslin 
gauze  over  the  top  of  the  box,  and  over  the  muslin  press 
down  the  ring  of  the  lid,  so  as  to  make  the  muslin  taut 
over  the  top  of  the  box.  Then  cut  away  the  loose  muslin 
around  the  ring,  ^^and  then,  complete  and  ready  for  use, 
you  have  an  iodine  deodorizing-box  which  will  last  in  action 
for  six  or  eight  weeks,  even  in  hot  weather.  To  bring  this 
box  into  practical  application  it  is  only  necessary  to  place 
it  in  the  closet  or  on  a  shelf  or  any  other  resting-place. 
The  iodine  will  volatilize  slowly  into  the  air  through  the 
muslin  gauze,  will  diffuse  itself  through  the  air,  which  it 
will  deodorize,  and  after  a  time  communicate  freely  an 
odor  like  that  of  fresh  sea-air.  In  cases  where  an  instant 
effect  is  required,  the  iodine  may  be  volatilized  in  a  more 
rapid  manner.  A  little  of  it  may  be  placed  on  a  plate,  and 
the  plate  held  over  a  spirit-lamp  within  the  closet  for  a 
minute  or  two.  The  iodine,  diffused  by  heat,  will  pass  off 
as  a  violet-colored  vapor,  and  as  it  passes  through  the  air 


80  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

will  exercise  a  rapid  purifying  action.  The  vapor  as  it 
cools  will  condense  upon  the  walls,  and  there  will  continue 
its  work  of  j)urification." 

Dr.  Eichardson  also  devised  a  very  simple  means  of 
purifying  larger  rooms  by  means  of  diffusing  deodorizing 
and  disinfecting  substances  through  the  air  in  the  form  of 
fine  spray.  The  fluid  used  was  made  by  adding  iodine  to 
a  solution  of  the  peroxide  of  hydrogen.  The  water  was 
also  charged  with  two  and  a  half  per  cent  of  sea-salt,  and 
was  set  aside  until  it  was  saturated  with  the  iodine.  The 
fluid  was  then  filtered  and  placed  in  a  spray-apparatus,  by 
which,  when  required,  it  was  diffused  in  the  finest  state  of 
distribution  at  the  rate  of  two  fluid  ounces  an  hour.  In  a 
bedroom  or  sitting-room  of  ordinary  size,  one  ounce  of  the 
fluid  was  sufficient  to  render  the  air — as  tried  by  the  best 
chemical  tests — perfectly  pure,  and  that  in  the  course  of  ten 
or  twelve  minutes.  **  The  apparatus,"  says  its  enthusiastic 
inventor,  ^^was  so  simple  in  action  that  any  nurse  could  put 
it  into  operation  at  once,  and  could  deodorize  a  room  hour 
by  hour  on  the  direction  of  the  medical  attendant.  In 
fact,  there  was  produced  a  sea-atmosphere  in  the  room." 

Every  one  perceives  at  once  the  difference  between  a 
pure  inland-breeze  and  a  pure  sea-breeze.  This  arises 
mainly  from  the  fact  that  the  latter  contains  some  admix- 
ture of  salt  and  a  little  iodine,  l^ow,  if  one  could  at  will 
introduce  into  his  city  or  country  bedroom,  parlor,  or  office, 
the  atmosphere  of  the  sea-shore,  it  could  not  fail  to  be  of 
high  advantage.  Instead  of  going  to  the  sea -shore,  he 
would  practically,  for  the  time  being,  bring  the  sea-shore  to 
him. 

A  word  of  caution  is  necessary  in  regard  to  this  use  of 
iodine,  and  it  will  apply  in  some  degree  to  the  use  of  chlo- 
rine and  of  many  other  disinfectants.  The  oxj^gen  which 
is  set  free  by  these  means  is  eager  for  a  new  combination. 
This  is  precisely  what  makes  it  valuable  as  an  oxidizer  of 


DISINFECTANTS,  81 

deleterious  organic  matter,  but  it  is  equally  ready  to  at- 
tack some  other  substances,  including  metals.  Therefore 
metallic  fixtures,  ornaments,  instruments,  etc.,  will  be  rap- 
idly rusted  in  a  room  where  disinfectants  of  this  class  arc 
used,  and  especially  where  the  iodine  volatilizer  described 
by  Richardson  is  in  use  for  weeks  together.  They  should 
therefore  be  first  removed,  or  else  protected  by  some  coating 
that  will  prevent  rust. 


IX, 

THE  BEDEOOMS. 

There  are  those  wlio  profess  to  consider  every  lionr 
spent  in  sleep  as  so  mucb.  lost  time.  For  anght  we  know, 
the  Creator  might  haye  so  constituted  man  that  he  should 
not  require  any  regularly  returning  intervals  of  repose. 
But  he  has  not  done  so.  The  physical  laws  which  govern 
our  earthly  life  prescribe  sleep  ;  and  it  is  only  by  obedi- 
ence to  these  physical  laws  that  bodily  health  can  be  main- 
tained. 

The  time  required  for  slee^D  varies  much  in  different 
individuals  ;  more  in  the  same  individual  at  different  ages, 
in  different  states  of  health,  and  at  different  seasons  of  the 
year.  Dr.  Eichardson  says  :  *^  We  require  in  the  cold  sea- 
son of  winter,  when  the  nights  are  long,  much  more  of 
sleep  than  we  do  in  the  summer.  On  the  longest  day  in 
the  year,  seven  hours  of  sleep  is  sufficient  for  most  men  and 
women  who  are  in  the  prime  of  life.  On  the  shortest  day, 
nine  hours  of  sleep  is  not  overmuch  ;  and,  for  those  who  are 
weakly,  ten  or  twelve  hours  may  be  taken  with  real  advan- 
tage. In  winter,  children  should  always  have  ten  or  twelve 
hours  of  sleep.  It  is  not  idleness  to  indulge  to  that  extent ; 
but  an  actual  saving,  a  storing  up  of  invigorated  existence 
for  the  future. " 

Perhaps  this  may  hold  good  for  Great  Britain,  where 
the  longest  days  and  the  longest  nights  are  longer  than 
with  us  ;  and  where  the  people  are  of  a  somewhat  more 


TEE  BEDROOMS.  83 

phlegmatic  temperament.  But  for  us,  and  in  our  climate, 
the  estimate  is  probably  somewhat  too  high,  taken  as  a 
whole.  Infants,  indeed,  pass  almost  their  whole  time  for 
several  months  in  sleep  ;  old  age  sometimes  demands  more 
sleep  than  do  youth  and  maturity  ;  sickness  asks  for  more 
sleep  than  health  does.  Too  much  sleep  is  injurious  as 
well  as  too  much  eating.  Leaving  infancy,  old  age,  and 
sickness  out  of  view,  probably  eight  hours  out  of  the  twen- 
ty-four for  sleep  is  a  fair  average  for  men  and  women  in  our 
country,  who  are  in  ordinary  health  and  engaged  in  the 
ordinary  occupations  of  life.  That  is,  about  one  third  of 
the  time  during  the  most  busy  period  of  our  life  must  be 
given  up  to  sleep. 

Our  sleeping  hours  are  exposed  to  many  perils  from 
whicli  our  waking  hours  are  exempt.  When  awake  we  can 
close  the  windows  if  the  draught  is  excessive  ;  put  on  more 
clothing  if  we  are  cold  ;  lay  aside  some  if  we  are  too  warm  ; 
replenish  the  fire  if  it  burns  too  low,  and  do  innumerable 
other  things  which  it  is  desirable  should  be  done.  In 
sleep  our  actions  are  withdrawn  almost  wholly  from  our  own 
control.  Whatever  preparations  are  to  be  made  for  health 
and  comfort  during  sleep  must  be  made  while  we  are 
awake.  Were  it  not  that  the  vital  functions  of  the  lungs 
and  heart  go  on  independent  of  our  volitions,  every  sleep 
would  be  one  from  which  there  is  no  waking — sleep  and 
death  would  be  words  of  the  same  import. 

Then,  also,  the  condition  of  the  body  and  of  all  its  sur- 
roundings is  most  unfavorable  during  the  hours  specially 
devoted  to  sleep — say  from  midnight  to  daylight.  During 
these  hours  the  life-giving  influence  of  the  sun  has  been 
longest  withdrawn  from  us,  and  the  vital  processes  are  at 
their  lowest  point.  Deaths — especially  of  those  who  are 
suffering  from  protracted  illness — occur  far  more  frequently 
during  these  hours  than  during  a  like  period  of  any  other 
part  of  the  day.     These  hours  are  regarded  by  all  physi- 


8^  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

cians,  and  others  who  Laye  constant  care  of  the  sick,  as  crit- 
ical hours.  One  of  our  old  writers  styles  them  the  ^^  hours 
of  Fate."  For  all  of  us,  and  especially  for  those  who  are 
treading  the  downward  slope  of  life,  sleep  is  deepest  and 
death  nearest  in  these  hours  of  Fat^. 

Imagine  a  case,  which  shall  not  be  exceptional,  but  a 
fair  type  of  many  which  are  of  constant  occurrence :  A  man 
somewhat  declined  into  the  yale  of  years,  but  in  good  or- 
dinary health  for  his  age,  has  passed  a  winter  eyening  in  his 
parlor,  heated  to  a  pleasant  summer  temperature.  At  eleyen 
o'clock  he  goes  to  his  bedroom,  in  which  a  fire  has  been 
kept  ujo.  This  is  still  burning,  although  it  is  beginning  to 
wax  low.  But  the  room  is  yet  warm  ;  so  he  does  not  re- 
plenish the  fuel,  but  lies  down  to  rest,  and  soon  falls  into 
sound  sleep.  Four  or  fiye  hours  elapse,  during  which  a 
great  change  has  been  gradually  going  on  in  the  room. 
The  fire  in  the  grate  has  burned  out  and  the  temperature 
within  has  sunk  almost  as  low  as  that  without — say  thirty 
or  forty  degrees  lower  than  it  had  been.  The  sleeper  lies 
unconscious  of  all  this.  Perhaps  the  bedclothing  may  be 
sufficient  to  preyent  him  from  feeling  cold.  But  he  has 
been  receiying  cold  air  into  his  lungs,  long  accustomed  only 
to  the  inhalation  of  warm  air.  The  minute  blood-yessels  of 
the  lungs  are  more  or  less  paralyzed  by  the  unwonted  cold  air. 
They  become  congested,  and  this  congestion  may  result  in  a 
bronchial  irritation  and  obstruction,  which  constitutes  one 
of  the  most  fatal  diseases  incident  to  aged  people,  and  which 
manifests  itself  most  especially  when  winter  comes  on. 

Now,  had  the  sleeper  been  awake  during  these  few 
hours,  nothing  of  the  kind  would  haye  happened.  He 
would  haye  replenished  the  fire  in  due  time,  and  would 
thus  haye  kept  up  a  uniform  temperature  through  the 
night.  Uniformity  of  temperature  during  all  the  hours  of 
sleep  is,  for  a  person  not  in  robust  health,  of  much  more 
consequence  than  mere  warmth. 


TEE  BEDROOMS.  85 

Any  sudden  change  of  temperature  involves  the  chief 
hazard.  The  best  temperature  for  a  sleeping-room  is  that 
of  from  60°  to  65°,  perhaps  a  little  higher  for  enfeebled  per- 
sons. But,  even  for  these,  a  uniform  cold  atmosphere  is 
better  than  one  in  which  there  is  frequent  and  marked  fluc- 
tuation. The  temperature  of  a  warmed  room  varies  con- 
siderably in  different  parts  ;  the  thermometer  should  be 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  bed,  about  two  feet  above  the 
pillow. 

Since  so  many  of  the  most  important  hours  of  the  day 
are  passed  in  the  bedroom,  and  since  those  hours  are  be- 
set with  so  many  dangers  peculiar  to  themselves — dangers 
from  which  the  occupant,  while  asleep,  has  no  means  of 
protecting  himself — it  behooves  that  the  utmost  precaution 
and  care  should  be  taken  to  reduce  these  possible  dangers 
to  the  lowest  actual  point,  and  to  ward  off,  as  far  as  may 
be,  the  evils  of  those  which  will  still  remain.  Assuming 
that  due  ventilation  has  been  provided,  and  that  the  heat- 
ing apparatus,  if  any,  is  properly  constructed,  we  pass  to 
the  consideration  of  sundry  points,  each  in  itself  of  perhaps 
minor  consequence,  but  amounting  in  the  aggregate  to 
very  much. 

The  relative  importance  of  the  bedroom  is  greatly  en- 
hanced when,  as  is  generally  the  case,  it  is  used  for  many 
other  purposes  besides  sleeping.  In  most  houses  the  bed- 
room serves  also  as  a  dressing-room  arid  a  private  sitting- 
room.  Every  person,  however  social,  wishes  for  more  or 
less  hours  of  solitude  ;  and  every  one  has  at  times  some- 
thing to  do  which  can  best  be  done  in  private  ;  and  the 
bedroom  is  the  natural  place  for  these  purposes.  The  boys 
will  study  their  school-lessons  there ;  the  girls  will  do 
their  stitching  and  mending  and  write  their  letters  there. 
So  that,  what  with  all  these  uses,  not  much  less  than  half 
of  the  twenty-four  hours  of  the  day  will  be  spent,  at  least 
by  the  female  members  of  the  family,  in  the  bedroom.     Its 


86  BEALTS  AT  SOME. 

location  and  arrangement  are  therefore  of  the  first  impor- 
tance. The  pleasantest  and  sunniest  rooms  in  the  upper 
part  of  the  house  should  be  devoted  to  this  purpose.  A 
basement  bedroom  is  never  to  be  tolerated  on  any  account, 
nor  should  one  exist  on  the  first  floor  unless  there  is  under 
it  a  high  and  dry  basement. 

The  floor  of  a  bedroom  can  not  be  too  good,  and  the 
best  floor  is  one  of  wood,  well  seasoned,  smooth,  carefully 
fitted  and  properly  laid ;  not  painted,  but  stained,  if  de- 
sired, to  a  light  oak  color.  If,  however,  as  is  most  likely, 
the  floor  is  not  good  enough  for  this  use,  it  may  be  covered 
with  oil-cloth  or  straw-matting.  Each  of  these  materials 
presents  some  special  advantages,  and  they  about  balance 
each  other. 

Oil-cloth  is  impermeable  by  water  or  dust,  is  easily 
swept  and  cleaned,  and  very  durable,  so  that  it  hardly  needs 
to  be  taken  up  until  quite  worn  out.  It  should  therefore 
be  accurately  fitted  to  every  line,  angle,  and  turning  of  the 
walls  of  the  room,  well  laid,  and  securely  nailed  down.  It 
should  be  of  some  one  color,  agreeable  to  the  eye  in  itself  or 
in  connection  with  that  of  the  walls  and  ceiling.  If  these, 
as  is  to  be  suggested  hereafter,  are  bluish,  the  oil-cloth 
should  be  of  a  reddish-brown  tint,  thus  following  N'ature, 
our  best  guide,  who  spreads  an  overarching  canopy  of  blue 
above  the  blooming  of  the  land  whose  prevailing  tints  are 
brownish. 

If  matting  be  chosen  for  the  floor-covering,  the  same 
general  rules  are  to  be  observed  as  for  oil-cloth.  It  should 
be  of  the  natural  delicate  yellowish  hue  of  the  rushes  of 
which  it  is  made.  Straw-matting  is  pleasanter  to  the  tread 
and  less  resonant  to  the  foot-fall  than  oil-cloth.  It  is  ea- 
sily swept,  and  may  be  washed  off  when  in  any  way  soiled. 

Whether  oil-cloth  or  matting  be  used  as  a  floor-covering, 
strips  of  carpeting — rugs,  in  fact — should  be  laid  over  it  in 
the  places  most  frequently  trodden  upon  :  as  in  front  of 


TEE  BEDROOMS.  87 

the  fire — if  there  be  one  ;  by  the  sides  of  the  bed,  and  in 
front  of  the  wardrobe,  dressing-table,  and  wash -stand. 
These  strips  are  not  to  be  tacked  down  at  all.  They  should 
be  taken  up  whenever  the  room  is  swept,  carried  out-doors, 
shaken  and  beaten,  brought  back  and  laid  down  again.  In 
these  carpet-strips  or  rugs,  some  license — but  not  overmuch 
— may  be  taken  as  to  color.  Darker  colors  and  more  brill- 
iant tints  than  are  admissible  elsewhere  in  the  room  may 
be  used  here. 

The  practices  which  should  prevail  in  the  use  of  carpets 
in  bedrooms  may  be  summed  up  in  two  rules  :  1.  Have 
carpet  -  strips  in  every  part  of  the  room  where  the  feet 
are  regularly  and  frequently  placed.  This  will  include  all 
the  places  specified  above.  2.  Have  no  carpets  in  any  part 
of  the  room  where  the  feet  are  not  regularly  and  frequently 
placed.  This  will  exclude  a  space  of  two  or  three  feet 
around  the  room  next  to  the  walls,  and  most  especially 
the  space  under  the  bed.  The  reason  for  the  latter  rule  is 
that  every  unnecessary  inch  of  carpet  adds  to  the  impuri- 
ties floating  in  the  air  of  the  room  by  accumulating  dust. 
Much  of  the  dust  thus  collected  in  bedrooms  in  spite  of  the 
most  careful  sweeping,  is  of  organic  origin,  and,  if  not  origi- 
nally noxious,  soon  becomes  so  by  means  of  fermentation 
and  decomposition. 

If  wall-paper  is  to  be  used,  the  following  directions  of 
Dr.  Eichardson  are  eminently  worthy  of  observance  :  "  1. 
The  paper  selected  should  not  be  a  '  flock-paper.'  2.  It 
ought  not  to  have  a  raised  or  rough  surface.  3.  The  pat- 
tern should  be  of  the  plainest  kind — so  to  speak,  pattern- 
less.  4.  The  color  should  be  gray,  sea-green,  or  sky-blue. 
5.  It  should  be  renewed  every  three  years  at  least.  6. 
The  old  paper  should  be  entirely  stripped  off,  and  the  wall 
be  well  cleansed  of  dry  paste.  7.  The  new  paper  should 
be  put  on  with  paste  fresh  and  pure,  into  which  a  little 
alum  has  been  introduced." 


88  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

But  better  than  to  use  paper  at  all^  and  cheaper  in  the  long 
run,  is  to  have  the  walls  hard  finished  and  painted  in  a  deli- 
cate tint — saj  sky-blue  or  sea-green.  Some  of  the  "  sili- 
cate "  paints  are  in  some  respects  the  best ;  but  their  use  is 
rather  costly,  owing  to  the  fact  that  they  do  not  "  cover  '* 
well ;  four  coats  may  be  required  where  two  of  the  ordinary 
lead  or  zinc  paints  would  be  sufficient.  After  all,  perhaps 
the  old  mode  of  painting  walls  in  ^^ distemper"  is  about  as 
good  as  any,  taking  the  comparative  cheapness  into  account. 
At  least,  there  are  no  sanitary  objections  to  it,  as  in  the 
case  of  wall-paper. 

The  general  rules  applicable  to  the  walls  apply  equally 
to  the  ceiling.  It  should  in  no  case  be  pure  white,  but  of 
a  tint  approximating  to  the  wall,  preferably  a  little  lighter 
in  shade. 

The  fittings  of  a  bedroom  should  be  simple  rather  than 
ornate.  Bric-a-'brac,  to  any  great  extent,  is  quite  out  of 
place.  The  room  is  mainly  designed  for  a  place  of  rest ;  and 
a  "  cluttered-up  "  aspect  is  suggestive  of  anything  rather 
than  repose.  A  few  good  pictures  (if  they  can  be  afforded) 
or  engravings  should  hang  upon,  not  cover,  the  walls.  But 
the  pictures  should  not  be  of  a  very  bright  tone,  and  the 
subjects  should  always  be  pleasant  ones. 

It  matters  little  whether  the  bedstead  be  of  metal  or 
of  wood.  It  should  stand  upon  casters,  and  be  light  enough 
to  be  easily  moved  for  sweeping  under  it,  and  for  other 
purposes. 

The  great  feather-bed,  the  pride  and  glory  of  house- 
keepers of  former  generations,  is  now,  fortunately,  pretty 
nearly  a  thing  of  the  past.  It  wg^s  not  favorable  to  health. 
Spring-mattresses,  of  various  devices,  are  excellent.  Mat- 
tresses of  curled  hair  and  the  like  are  unexceptionable. 
The  great  evil  of  a  very  hard  bed  is  that  it  supports  the 
body  of  a  sleeper  at  only  a  few  points,  namely,  the  shoul- 
ders and  hips.     Any  bed  which  is  sufficiently  yielding  to 


THE  BEDROOMS.  89 

^*  giye  "  to  the  body  at  every  point — to  adapt  itself  to  the 
hollows  and  protuberances  of  the  frame — is  in  so  far  a 
good  one.  A  soft  quilt  may  properly  be  placed  oyer  the 
mattress.  A  very  thin  feather-bed  is  not  inadmissible  in 
cold  weather,  although  the  quilt  answers  every  purpose. 

Feathers,  though  to  a  good  extent  banished  from  use  as 
beds,  are  still  most  commonly  retained  for  pillows.  Now, 
feathers  require  to  be  cleaned  from  time  to  time,  and  much 
more  frequently  than  is  generally  practiced.  It  is  too  often 
assumed  that,  as  long  as  the  pillow  has  no  decided  musty 
smell,  all  is  right.  The  feathers,  after  cleansing,  should  be 
thoroughly  dried,  or  mischief  will  happen. 

For  sheets  and  pillow-cases  cotton  is  in  many  cases  pref- 
erable to  linen.  The  outer  bedclothing  should  be  as  light 
as  is  consistent  with  a  sufficient  amount  of  protecting 
power.  No  clothing,  whether  for  the  bed  or  the  person, 
produces  any  heat.  It  merely  acts  as  a  non-conductor,  hin- 
dering the  heat  generated  by  the  vital  forces  within  the 
body  from  escaping.  Woolen  blankets,  of  a  fleecy  texture, 
are  undoubtedly  the  best  bedclothing.  If  a  ^^  comforter" 
be  desired,  one  of  cotton  is  quite  as  good  as  one  of  the  cost- 
liest eider-down.  It  should  consist  of  not  more  than  three 
or  four  pounds  of  smooth  cotton  ^^bats"  quilted  between 
a  cloth  covering  on  each  side.  It  is  advisable  that  no  sin- 
gle article  of  bedclothing  be  very  thick,  but,  that  there  be 
at  least  two  of  each  kind,  so  that  the  thickness  of  the  whole 
may  be  graduated  according  to  the  weather ;  and  so  that 
they  can  be  changed  frequently.  Moreover,  a  thin  cover- 
ing affords  less  lodgment  for  the  exhalations  of  the  body 
than  does  a  thick  one. 

It  is  sometimes  thought  to  be  a  token  of  neatness  that 
the  occupant  of  a  bedroom  tidy  it  up  by  ^^  making-up  "  the 
bed  before  breakfast.  But  this  is  not  advisable.  It  is  bet- 
ter that  the  bed  be  smoothed  up  until  the  morning  ablu- 
tions and  dressing  have  been  performed,  so  that  the  exhala- 


90  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

tions  of  the  night  shall  not  escape  into  the  room.  Then, 
the  last  thing  before  leaving  the  room,  take  off  all  articles 
of  the  bedclothing,  hang  them  as  separately  as  may  be 
over  the  foot  of  the  bed  and  upon  chairs,  and  open  the  win- 
dows, so  that  eyerything  maybe  thoroughly  aired  before  the 
bed  is  made  n]3. 

The  windows  should  be  left  oj^en  in  pleasant  weather 
until  the  sun  begins  to  decline,  when  they  should  be  closed, 
since  late  in  the  day  the  air,  except  on  very  bright  days,  be- 
gins to  be  charged  with  sensible  moisture — that  is,  it  is 
more  or  loss  ^^damp"  ;  and  to  sleep  in  damj)  air  is  nearly 
as  bad  as  to  sleep  in  damp  sheets. 

The  common  exception  to  sleeping  in  *^  night  air," 
though  not  very  well  expressed,  is  perfectly  sound  in  fact. 
To  be  sure,  air  in  the  night  can,  in  a  strict  sense,  be  noth- 
ing else  than  ^^ night  air"  ;  but  what  is  meant  in  the  ob- 
jection is  air  unduly  charged  with  sensible  moisture.  To 
breathe  such  air  during  the  day  would  be  just  as  deleteri- 
ous as  to  breathe  it  during  the  night,  only  that  during 
sleep  the  physical  system  is  in  a  condition  less  fitted  to  re- 
sist its  evil  influence.  This  does  not  apply  to  malarious 
districts,  where  noxious  exhalations  are  thrown  from  the 
soil  into  the  air  much  more  abundantly  during  the  night 
than  during  the  day.  Thus  one  may  pass  the  day  in  the 
Pontine  Marshes  near  Eome,  or  in  the  rice-swamps  of  South 
Carolina,  with  tolerable  safety,  while  it  is  almost  fatal  to 
sleep  there  for  a  single  night. 

It  is  very  desirable  that  only  one  person  should  occupy 
a  bed.  In  no  case,  if  it  can  possibly  be  avoided,  should 
two  persons  very  different  in  age,  temperament,  and  habits, 
sleep  together.  The  evils  resulting  to  a  young  person  from 
sleeping  with  an  aged  one  are  universally  recognized.  The 
child  is  almost  sure  to  become  enfeebled  ;  whether  the  aged 
person  is  benefited  thereby,  as  is  commonly  supposed,  is  not 
so  certain.    The  common  opinion  iSj  that  the  old  person  in 


THE  bedroo:ms.  91 

some  mysterious  way  draws  out  vitality  from  the  young 
one,  and  absorbs  it  into  his  own  system. 

But,  leaving  this  out  of  view,  there  are  evils  more  or  less 
inseparable  from  double-bed  sleeping.  Very  rarely  will 
two  persons  sleep  together  whose  systems  require  just  the 
same  amount  of  bedclothing ;  and,  if  a  compromise  is  ef- 
fected, one  must  have  too  little,  the  other  too  much.  If 
one  of  them  be  restless,  the  other  must  be  annoyed  ;  if  one 
be  wakeful,  he  will  disturb  the  sleep  of  the  other.  And  in 
any  case  each  must  in  some  degree  inhale  the  vitiated  air 
which  has  just  been  breathed  out  by  the  other.  Two  sin- 
gle beds  of  course  occupy  somewhat  more  space  than  a  double 
one.  And  in  case  the  size  and  shape  of  the  bedroom,  or 
the  uses  other  than  sleeping  for  which  it  may  be  required, 
preclude  two  ordinary  beds,  a  *^  trundle-bed,"  to  be  run 
beneath  the  other  during  the  day,  is  preferable  to  a  double 
bed,  especially  where  one  of  the  occupants  is  a  child. 

A  bedroom  should,  as  far  as  possible,  not  be  used  as 
a  store-room  ;  and,  in  case  it  is  necessary  to  have  a  trunk 
or  two  in  it,  these  may  be  utilized  as  couches  or  seats,  by 
covering  them  with  cushions  made  for  the  purpose.  Most 
especially  the  space  under  the  bed  should  not  be  used  as  a 
repository  for  things  to  be  kept  out  of  sight.  Wherever 
else  shoes,  bundles,  and  odds  and  ends  may  be  placed,  they 
should  never  be  found  under  the  bed. 

In  a  healthful  home,  no  bedroom  to  be  occupied  by  a  sin- 
gle person  will  contain  less  than  eight  hundred  cubic  feet ; 
say  ten  feet  long,  eight  feet  wide,  and  ten  feet  high.  For 
two  persons  its  cubical  contents  should  be  greater  by  at 
least  one  half ;  say  twelve  feet  long  and  ten  feet  broad ; 
and  a  still  more  liberal  amount  of  space  is  desirable  if  the 
size  of  the  house  will  permit. 


X. 

THE  CLOTHINa  WE  WEAE. 

*'  Gee  AT  is  the  significance  of  clothes,"  says  Teufels- 
drock-Carlyle.  By  "  clothes  "  he  indeed  means  those  in- 
stitutions, forms,  habits,  and  customs  which  man,  the  spir- 
ituality, has  hung  upon  or  wrapped  around  himself  as  an 
inyisible  environment  for  his  visible  existence.  But,  in  a 
hygienic  point  of  view,  we  may  take  the  word  in  its  literal 
signification. 

The  chief  materials  used  by  man  for  clothing  are  skins, 
furs,  the  bark  and  leaves  of  trees,  or  fabrics  made  from 
them,  silk,  wool,  cotton,  and  linen.  Leaving  the  other 
materials  out  of  view,  it  may  be  said  that,  especially  for 
under-garments,  silk  is  the  best ;  but  its  comparative  cost 
precludes  its  very  extensive  use  for  that  purpose.  Then, 
come  wool,  cotton,  and  linen ;  wool  being  the  best  and 
linen  the  worst  of  the  three  for  this  use. 

As  far  as  health  and  comfort  are  concerned,  the  inhab- 
itants of  warm  regions,  taught  by  instinct  or  experience, 
prefer  either  as  little  clothing  as  is  consistent  with  decency, 
or  loose  and  flowing  garments  ;  while  the  inhabitants  of 
cold  regions  prefer  garments  which  fit  somewhat  closely  to 
each  part  of  the  person,  and,  when  loose  and  flowing  ones 
are  added,  it  is  mainly  and  especially  for  the  sake  of  adorn- 
ment, not  for  health  or  comfort.  Outer  garments,  or 
wraps,  such  as  shawls  and  cloaks,  are  an  exception  to  this. 
No  attire  is  beautiful,  or  will  ever  be  considered  so,  except 


THE  CLOTHING   WE  WEAR,  93 

during  the  brief  period  when  it  is  ''the  fashion,"  which 
does  not  either  fit  to  the  person,  or  fall  in  loose  folds  about 
it.  Oriental  peoples  have,  from  time  immemorial,  to  a 
great  extent  adhered  to  their  national  ancestral  garb  ;  and 
as  a  rule  their  costumes,  while  graceful,  present  little  to 
which  objection  can  be  taken  upon  sanitary  grounds.  But 
with  us  of  the  Occident  the  fashions  are  ever  varying  from 
one  extreme  to  the  other  of  positive  ugliness. 

The  sanitarian  will  not  trouble  himself  to  quarrel  with 
Fashion  so  long  as  she  contents  herself  with  prescribing 
ugly  attire.  But  when  she  goes  on  to  prescribe  a  costume 
which,  instead  of  fitting  to  the  person,  fits  the  vital  organs 
to  itself,  displaces  them  at  will,  and  thereby  prevents  the 
due  performance  of  their  proper  functions,  he  must  lift 
up  his  voice  in  loud  though  perhaps  unavailing  protest. 
Haply  a  few,  at  least,  may  heed  his  warning,  if  often 
enough  reiterated. 

Fortunately,  the  male  attire  of  the  present  day  is  tol- 
erably suited  to  its  purpose,  and  is  not,  except  in  a  few 
points,  specially  objectionable  upon  sanitary  grounds  ;  its 
defects  being  mainly  those  of  omission  rather  than  positive 
violation  of  sanitary  laws.  Far  different  is  it  in  respect  to 
the  prevalent  female  costume. 

The  evil  effects  of  "tight  lacing,"  as  the  term  is  com- 
monly used,  are  too  well  known  to  need  to  be  here  detailed. 
It  may  be  believed  that  this  particular  form  of  compression 
of  the  waist  has  to  a  good  degree  gone  out  of  use.  We 
rarely  now  see  the  spider-like  waists,  which  one  could  clasp 
between  the  extended  fingers  of  his  two  hands.  So  we  let 
this  pass. 

But  evils  quite  as  great  as  and  far  more  prevalent  than 
those  ever  occasioned  by  mere  tight  lacing  are  entailed  by 
wearing  heavy  under-skirts,  etc.,  suspended  from  the  abdo- 
men above  the  hips.  Without  going  into  anatomical  ex- 
planations, it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  this  extra  weight. 


94  HEALTH  AT  HOME, 

pulling  down  upon  muscles  which  have  enough  to  do  to 
perform  their  own  work,  impairs  the  whole  process  of 
breathing— that  vital  function  upon  whose  proper  perform- 
ance every  other  function  depends.  All  the  organs  below 
the  tight  band  which  ujDholds  the  skirts  are  dragged  still 
farther  downward  by  a  steady,  constant  pull ;  and  each  of 
them,  one  ofter  the  other,  begins  to  complain. 

First,  perhaps,  the  stomach  gives  out  its  monitory  voice. 
There  are  fluctuating  pains  here,  there,  and  everywhere, 
but  seeming  to  find  a  common  center  at  the  middle  of  the 
chest,  accompanied  by  an  uneasy  pulling  downward  at  the 
pit  of  the  stomach.  The  sufferer  tries  to  describe  this  sen- 
sation by  designating  it  as  a  feeling  of  *^ goneness."  It 
closely  simulates  the  sensation  of  faintness  occasioned  by 
want  of  food.  Sometimes,  indeed,  the  irritation  of  the 
stomach  thus  caused  produces  a  factitious  hunger,  so  that 
the  sufferer  is  "  always  eating,"  and  perhaps  congratulates 
herself  upon  her  excellent  appetite.  But  by-and-by,  al- 
though the  appetite  appears  to  be  so  good,  the  food,  be  it 
what  it  may,  does  not  "  agree  "  with  her.  The  stomach 
either  rejects  its  burden  or  passes  it  on  undigested,  or  the  hor- 
rors of  dyspepsia  are  added  to  the  misery  already  endured. 
In  other  cases  the  same  irritation  causes  loss  of  appetite. 

The  mere  disjDlacement  of  any  one  organ  involves  a  dis- 
placement of  adjacent  ones,  each  of  which  must  in  turn 
take  possession  of  some  of  the  space  belonging  to  its  neigh- 
bor. The  liver  can  not  do  its  work  properly,  and  so  bilious 
affections  are  promoted.  Meanwhile  the  passage  of  the 
food,  after  it  has  left  the  stomach,  is  interrupted  in  the 
bowels,  producing  constipation  and  occasionally  violent  in- 
flammation and  ulcers.  The  heart  also — that  toughest  of 
all  the  organs,  which  has  been  compared  to  an  animated 
India-rubber  bag — flags  in  its  unceasing  work,  and  sends 
out  its  plaint  in  the  form  of  palpitations,  flutterings,  and 
*' sinking  feelings." 


THE  CLOTmNO   WE  WEAR.  95 

Worse  even  than  any  or  all  is  the  effect  produced  upon 
the  organs  belonging  specially  to  the  female  sex,  who  not 
imfrequently  undergo  from  this  cause  tortures  equal  to 
those  of  the  rack  or  the  stake.  And  the  intimate  relations 
between  these  organs  and  the  brain  and  entire  nervous  sys- 
tem induce  untold  agony,  both  of  body  and  mind. 

Many  years  ago  Miss  Beecher,  in  her  ''Letters  to  Ameri- 
can Women/'  put  forth  statistics,  drawn  from  wide  obser- 
vation and  inquiry,  to  the  startling  effect  that  among  Ameri- 
can women,  in  good  circumstances  of  life,  hardly  one  in  ten 
was  fitted  to  perform  the  functions  of  motherhood.  It 
may  be  hoped  that  this  estimate  was  exaggerated ;  but 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  embodies  a  fearful  amount  of 
truth.  And  there  can  be  as  little  doubt  that  much  of  this 
is  owing  to  faulty  modes  of  dress,  and  notably  in  the  re- 
spect of  which  we  are  speaking. 

One  of  the  worst  things  in  this  case  is  that  this  abuse 
in  dress  begins  at  a  quite  early  age.  Very  tight  lacing  was 
not  usually  systematically  begun  until  the  girl  had  entered 
early  womanhood  and  was  of  an  age  to  ''  go  out,"  by  which 
time  the  bones  had  become  sufficiently  ''set  "to  offer  a 
stout  and  partially  successful  opposition  to  the  pressure. 
But  the  heavy  unsupported  skirts  are  hung  upon  the  school- 
girl before  she  has  fairly  entered  her  teens. 

This  long  train  of  evils  may  be  avoided  by  a  modifi- 
cation in  the  manner  of  supporting  the  skirts.  Have  a 
jacket  made,  fitting  well  to  the  figure,  like  the  waist  of  a 
dress  ;  it  may  be  best  fitted  over  a  corset.  It  is  to  be  laced 
behind,  but  not  so  tightly  that  a  full  breath  can  not  be 
easily  drawn  while  in  a  sitting  position.  It  is  immaterial 
whether  there  are  sleeves  or  not ;  in  either  case,  the  arm- 
holes  should  not  be  so  small  as  to  impede  the  free  move- 
ments of  the  shoulder- joint.  The  jacket  may  be  stiffened 
by  thin  slips  of  whalebone,  which  yield  readily  to  every 
motion  of  the  body,  and  the  corset  should  be  dispensed 


96  HEALTH  AT  HOME, 

with,  all  its  valuable  uses  being  perfectly  supplied  by  the 
jacket.  E"o  stiS  '*  corset-board"  is  in  front,  no  unyielding 
'^^ steels"  at  the  back,  to  interfere  with  the  graceful,  swan- 
like curye  which  the  many- join  ted  spine  assumes  when 
stooping,  if  its  action  is  not  interfered  with.  At  the  bot- 
tom of  the  jacket  are  buttons  to  which  are  fastened  all  the 
skirts,  etc.,  be  they  more  or  less  in  number.  Their  weight, 
within  any  reasonable  limits,  is  of  little  consequence  ;  it  is 
all  suspended  from  the  shoulders,  which  are  abundantly 
able  to  sustain  it. 

The  best  mode  of  under-dressing  for  all  females,  and  es- 
pecially for  the  young,  is  to  wear  next  to  the  person  a 
closely-fitting  waist  of  flannel  or  soft  cotton,  to  which  the 
drawers  are  buttoned  ;  oyer  this  the  chemise,  and  over  that 
the  jacket.  Then  comes  the  dress  itself,  of  any  material, 
shape,  or  fashion  which  may  be  chosen  by  the  wearer. 

The  usual  "full  dress"  of  ladies,  as  far  as  the  clothing 
of  the  chest  is  concerned,  is  most  defectiye.  Dr.  Richard- 
son, whom  we  haye  already  frequently  cited,  says  emphati- 
cally that  men  would  be  suSering  eyery  day  from  colds 
and  bronchitis  if  they  went  as  women  go  with  the  upper 
part  of  the  body  practically  unclothed  ;  and  it  was  his  ex- 
perience that,  in  the  large  majority  of  cases  of  people  of 
consumptiye  tendencies,  the  direct  cause  of  the  eyil  was 
the  exposure  of  the  chest.  Clothing,  he  says,  should  be  as 
porous  as  possible,  and  there  is  no  substance  for  dress  as 
good  as  light,  loose  woolen  cloth.  In  a  sanitary  point  of 
view,  color  is  of  considerable  importance.  For  cleanli- 
ness, effect  of  light  upon  the  body,  and  warmth,  gray  is  the 
best  color,  black  the  worst,  for  the  outside  dress. 

Drawers  should  be  depended  on  for  securing  warmth  to 
the  lower  limbs,  and  they  should  be  of  material  sufficient 
to  accomplish  this  without  aid,  skirts  being  added  as  de- 
sired for  the  sake  of  appearance,  since  the  latter  do  not  fit 
closely  enough  to  give  adequate  protection  against  the  cur- 


TEE  CLOTEma   WE  WEAR.  97 

rents  of  air  constantly  encountered  in  walking.  Many  in- 
flammatory disorders  of  the  bowels  and  of  other  organs,  oc- 
curring among  women  and  young  children,  are  due  to  neg- 
lect of  this  precaution.  The  practice  of  dressing  little  boys  in 
knickerbockers,  with  the  legs  partly  bare  or  yery  slightly 
clothed,  is  exceedingly  pernicious.  The  knickerbockers 
are  well  enough,  provided  sufficient  protection  in  the 
way  of  drawers  and  stockings  be  added,  but  the  drawers 
and  stockings  should  always  meet ;  the  latter  should  be 
warm  and  thick  except  in  yery  hot  weather,  and,  in 
cold  weather,  should  either  be  double,  or  supplemented  by 
leggings.  ^  ^ 

Stockings  require  more  cafe  in  selection  than  most  ar- 
ticles of  dress.  Ill-fitting  stockings  and  those  haying  seams 
are  nearly  as  productiye  of  corns  and  similar  painful  affec- 
tions as  ill-fitting  shoes.  ]S"ext  to  silk,  wool  is  generally 
preferable  for  winter  wear,  but  there  are  many  persons 
whose  feet  perspire  so  freely  in  woolen  stockings  that  they 
are  more  comfortable  in  moderately  thick  cotton  ones,  eyen 
in  the  coldest  weather.  Such  persons  should  be  careful 
when  going  for  a  long  walk  or  a  driye  in  cold  weather  to 
protect  the  feet  by  gaiters  of  felt  or  other  warm  material 
worn  outside  of  the  boot  and  coyering  the  entire  upper  part 
of  the  foot,  and  their  boots  should  always  haye  thick  soles, 
and  should  contain  felt  or  cork  in-soles.  The  in-soles  should 
be  removed  each  night,  that  they  may  be  perfectly  aired 
and  dried. 

Colored  stockings  should,  as  a  rule,  be  avoided,  as  many 
of  the  dyes  used  in  coloring  them  irritate  the  skin  very  se- 
riously, and  sometimes  a  fatal  effect  has  been  produced  by 
wearing  them.  Always,  if  the  skin  appears  roughened  or 
inflamed  under  colored  stockings,  the  latter  should  be  at 
once  discarded. 

Stockings  should  never  be  supported  by  garters,  as  these 
can  not  be  tight  enough  to  serve   their  purpose  without 

5 


98  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

imiDeding  tlie  circulation  of  the  blood,  inducing  coldness  of 
the  feet,  and  causing  the  yeins  of  the  legs  to  swell  and  in 
many  cases  to  become  yaricose.  It  is  better  that  the  sup- 
port should  be  by  means  of  an  elastic  band  attached  to  the 
drawers. 

Just  now  the  shoes,  whether  for  males  or  females,  are 
literally  the  great  stumbling-blocks  in  the  way  of  healthful 
dressing.  A  long  and  narrow  foot  has  come  to  be  consid- 
ered a  great  point  of  beauty.  So  we  have  the  sharp-pointed, 
narrow-soled  shoe  of  the  time.  If  one  could  only  look  upon 
a  foot  which  has  been  distorted  by  the  long  wearing  of  such 
shoes,  he  would  have  a  spectacle  of  extreme  deformity.  To 
say  nothing  of  painful  corns,  unsightly  callosities,  and  bun- 
ions, the  great-toe  is  deflected  from  its  place,  and  lies  partly 
across  the  other  toes,  which,  as  feebler  members,  have  to 
adjust  themselves  as  best  they  may  to  the  confined  quarters 
into  which  they  are  forced.  It  will  be  fortunate  if  an  in- 
growing nail  or  two  is  not  added  to  the  inevitable  corns  and 
bunions. 

The  great-toe  is  a  member  of  much  more  importance 
than  is  generally  supposed.  It  is  the  great  pivot  upon 
which  the  body  moves  at  one  period  in  the  act  of  walking. 
It  is  to  the  human  foot  very  much  what  the  thumb  is  to  the 
hand.  In  olden  times,  when  a  somewhat  merciful  captor 
wished  to  render  his  prisoners  incapable  of  further  offense, 
with  the  least  personal  injury  to  them,  he  cut  off  their 
great-toes  and  thumbs.  A  person  thus  mutilated  is  prac- 
tically a  cripple.  Cut  off  the  thumbs  and  great-toes  of 
every  person,  and  in  a  generation  or  two  the  human  race 
would  be  extinct,  simply  because  without  the  constant  use 
of  these  members  the  various  works  necessary  to  human 
life  can  not  be  adequately  performed.  In  respect  to  the 
hand  the  experiment  may  be  easily  tried  without  ampu- 
tating the  thumb.  Tie  it  firmly  down,  so  that  it  can  not 
be  used,  and  see  how  many  implements  you  can  manage 


THE  CLOTHma    WE  WEAR.  99 

with  only  the  other  fingers.  If  one  could  treat  the  great- 
toe  in  the  same  manner,  the  result  would  be  quite  corre- 
spondent. 

Sir  Charles  Bell,  in  his  admirable  ^^  Bridge  water  Treat- 
ise," has  set  forth  the  construction  of  the  human  hand  as  a 
striking  instance  of  the  divine  adaptation  of  means  to  ends. 
A  like  treatise  might  be  written  concerning  the  foot.  In  its 
natural  state  the  different  bones  and  cartilages  of  the  foot 
are  so  arranged  as  to  form  an  elastic  arch,  of  which  the 
heel  and  ball  of  the  foot  are  the  base  of  the  support,  so 
that,  when  we  tread,  the  weight  of  the  body  does  not  come 
down  plump  at  once  as  it  does  upon  the  stump  of  a  wooden 
leg.  The  impact  is  broken  by  the  momentary  yielding  of 
the  arch.  When  the  natural  structure  of  this  arch,  or  the 
play  of  its  parts,  is  interfered  with  in  any  way,  its  uses  are 
in  so  far  frustrated.  The  male  shoe  is  bad  enough  in  this 
respect ;  but  in  the  female  shoe,  as  now  fashionably  made, 
everything  is  as  wrong  as  it  well  can  be.  The  heel  is  so 
high  that  it  takes  nearly  the  whole  impact,  of  which  it 
should  bear  only  half  ;  it  is  brought  down  to  a  looint  too 
small  to  furnish  a  good  part  of  a  firm  basis  ;  and  the  mus- 
cles of  the  ankle  are  strained  in  the  vain  attempt  to  main- 
tain the  equipoise ;  they  give  way  upon  one  side  or  the 
other,  usually  upon  the  outer  side  ;  the  heel  of  the  shoe  is 
worn  away  more  upon  that  side,  and  the  muscles  of  the 
ankle  are  more  and  more  wrenched  by  the  ^'  lopsidedness  " 
of  the  tread.  And,  worse  than  all,  the  heel  of  the  shoe, 
instead  of  being  directly  under  the  heel  of  the  foot,  is 
brought  forward  until  it  is  almost  under  the  insertion  of 
the  ankle-bone,  with  which  it  forms  nearly  a  straight  line. 
The  consequence  is  that,  when  the  wearer  walks,  it  is  al- 
most as  though  she  were  mounted  upon  a  pair  of  wooden 
stumps.  She  "  minces  "  in  her  gait,  and  this  is  commonly 
set  down  to  affectation.  It  is  no  such  thing  in  most  cases. 
The  poor  creature  is  doing  the  best  she  can  under  difficul- 


100  EEALT3  AT  HOUR 

ties  for  which,  she  and  the  shoemaker  are  jointly,  though 
perhaps  ignorantly,  resj)onsible. 

There  is  as  much  reason  for  the  shoe  being  fitted  to  the 
the  foot  as  for  the  jacket  being  fitted  to  the  bust.  And 
this  can  be  done  only  by  measurement ;  as  thus  :  Let  one 
foot  be  placed  firmly  upon  the  floor,  while  standing  erect 
and  bearing  one's  whole  weight  upon  it.  If  the  toes  have 
been  distorted  from  their  proper  ^Dositions,  it  is  better  to 
put  between  them  soft  pledgets  of  cotton  or  the  like,  to 
bring  them  as  near  as  may  be  to  their  right  position. 
These  will  be  covered  by  the  stocking,  and  so  the  measurer 
need  know  nothing  of  them.  A  sheet  of  paper  will  have 
been  laid  upon  the  floor,  under  the  foot ;  upon  this  let  the 
orthopedic  artist  trace  the  outline  of  the  foot,  all  around 
from  heel  to  toe.  This  outline  gives  the  form  of  the  sole, 
and  it  will  be  quite  different  from  that  of  the  "ready- 
made  "  shoes  displayed  in  the  show-windows.  If  one  wish 
to  have  one's  shodden  foot  appear  a  little  longer,  and  con- 
sequently narrower,  than  it  really  is,  there  is  no  objection 
to  the  sole  being  somewhat  prolonged,  and  brought  nearer 
to  a  point  beyond  the  toes. 

But  feet  differ  considerably  in  other  respects  than 
length  and  breadth  of  sole.  One  foot  will  differ  from 
another,  of  the  same  length  and  breadth,  in  thickness  at 
various  points,  and  especially  in  height  of  instep.  To 
insure  a  "good  fit,"  measurements  must  be  taken,  by  a 
tape-measure,  at  several  places,  and  carefully  noted  down. 
If  one  could  be  quite  certain  that  the  shoemaker  would  be 
strictly  guided  by  his  measurements,  no  further  directions 
need  be  given  ;  but  it  may  be  well  to  tell  him  that  you  wish 
a  "loose"  fit,  rather  than  a  "tight"  one. 

Eeady-made  shoes  being  made  to  scale,  or  perhaps  to 
two  or  three  scales,  will  not  fit  aU  feet,  and  most  likely 
will  not  be  a  perfect  fit  to  any  one  foot.  If,  however,  one 
chances  to  find  a  ready-made  shoe  that  is  a  tolerable  fit  in 


TEE  CLOTHING    WE   WEAR.  101 

all  respects,  it  may  be  wiser  to  take  that  than  to  run  the 
quite  probable  risk  of  having  a  worse  one  ^^made  to  order." 

The  foot  has  a  happy  faculty  of  getting  oyer  any  inju- 
ries which  it  may  have  suffered  from  maltreatment,  only 
give  it  a  chance.  Discard  tight,  ill-fitting  shoes,  and  you 
may  reasonably  hope  that  corns,  bunions,  and  the  like  will 
vanish  in  a  short  time;  that  the  distorted  and  dis23laced 
toes  will  resume  their  natural  shape  and  position,  and  you 
will  have  a  foot  as  shapely  as  Nature  meant  you  to  have, 
although  it  may  not  quite  come  up  to  the  ideal  standard  of 
the  Venus  of  Milo. 

'^  Congress"  boots  are  convenient  in  many  ways.  They 
save  a  deal  of  trouble  in  buttoning  and  unbuttoning,  lac- 
ing and  unlacing  ;  and,  moreover,  buttons  have  a  persistent 
habit  of  getting  off,  and  lacings  of  getting  broken  at  the 
most  inconvenient  moment.  Care  should  be  taken  that  the 
elastic  gores  are  not  too  stiff,  and  that  they  are  not  tight 
enough  to  impede  the  circulation  of  the  blood  in  the  ankles. 

Eubber  overshoes  are  a  very  necessary  protection  against 
wet  and  damp,  but  they  should  never  be  worn  for  warmth, 
because  they  confine  the  perspiration  and  make  the  feet 
unhealthy.  If  one  has  to  be  out  much  in  stormy  weather, 
so  that  rubbers  are  constantly  worn,  the  feet  should  be 
bathed  and  the  stockings  and  even  the  shoes  changed  twice 
a  day. 

Slippers  to  be  worn  in  the  house  are  very  well  in  warm 
weather,  but  in  cold  or  even  cool  weather  they  are  very  un- 
safe, for  the  floor  is  commonly  the  coldest  part  of  the  room 
and  is  traversed  by  currents  of  cold  air,  and  the  change 
from  the  shoe  or  boot  to  the  slipper  is  a  very  common  cause 
of  illness,  the  more  so  as  this  change  is  usually  made  at  the 
close  of  the  day,  or  at  other  times  when  one  is  fatigued  and 
peculiarly  susceptible  to  the  influence  of  cold.  It  should 
go  without  saying,  that  slippers  are  not  fit  for  out-of-door 
wear. 


102  HEALTH  AT  HOME, 

Gloyes,  to  be  warni;,  should  be  loose  and  come  well  up 
on  the  wrist,  oyerla^Dping  the  sleeve  of  the  undershirt. 
Silk,  wool,  cotton,  any  woven  stuff,  is  preferable  to  skin, 
because  it  does  not  confine  the  perspiration,  can  be  more 
thoroughly,  aired  and  cleansed,  and  in  case  of  wetting  is 
less  uncomfortable.  Driving-gloves  must,  on  account  of 
the  wear  to  which  they  are  exposed,  be  wholly  or  partly  of 
skin.  A  common  fault  with  gentlemen's  driving-gloves  is 
that  they  are  either  too  short  or  too  flaring  at  the  wrist. 
In  either  case  they  afford  insufficient  protection  from  wind, 
and  should  be  supplemented  by  wristlets. 

Hats  should  be  worn  for  the  reason  given  in  reply  to 
the  old  conundrum,  ^^Why  does  a  miller  wear  a  white 
hat?^' — the  correct  answer  being,  '^To  cover  his  head." 
They  are  worn  by  men,  commonly,  for  this  reason — ^by 
women,  not  always.  It  is  a  common  remark  among  phy- 
sicians that  neuralgia  of  the  face  and  head  is  much  more 
common  among  women  than  among  men,  and  the  cause  of 
the  difference  is  thought  to  lie  largely  in  the  fact  that  the 
head-coverings  of  women  are  frequently  insufficient.  The 
entire  top  of  the  head  should  be  covered,  and  in  cold 
weather  the  covering  should  be  warm  and  should  include 
the  temples  and  the  back  of  the  head. 

Per  males  the  narrow-brimmed,  high-crowned,  unyield- 
ing ^^  beaver  "  is  adapted  to  no  good  use.  If  not  quite  tight 
it  is  sure  to  be  blown  off  at  the  slightest  provocation  ;  and 
if  tight  it  touches  the  head  only  at  a  few  points,  where  it 
produces  irritation  if  not  discoloration  ;  and  the  brim  is  too 
narrow  to  afford  any  shelter  to  the  eyes.  A  soft  felt  hat, 
with  a  brim  of  moderate  width,  the  crown  rising  three  or 
four  inches  above  the  top  of  the  head,  is  graceful  and  con- 
venient, and  leaves  little  to  be  desired  in  a  sanitary  point  of 
view.  If  light  in  color,  and  light  in  texture,  it  is  better 
for  summer  wear  than  any  fabrication  of  straw. 

The  overcoat  is  the  part  of  our  present  male  attire 


THE  CLOTEINQ    WE   WEAR.  103 

wliich  most  needs  improvement.  Of  the  mere  dress  over- 
coat nothing  need  be  said.  For  the  purpose  of  protection 
from  cold  and  storms,  all  overcoats  except  the  '^ulster," 
or  something  like  it,  are  very  deficient.  While  they  j^rotect 
the  chest  and  arms,  the  skirts  afford  little  protection  to 
the  legs  either  while  walking  or  sitting  \  and,  moreover, 
what  with  linings  and  paddings,  it  is  not  easy  to  dry  one 
thoroughly  should  it  chance  to  get  wet  through. 

The  Peruvian  ^^  poncho,"  with  certain  modifications,  is 
perhaps  the  best  form  for  an  outer  wrap  to  be  put  on  or 
laid  aside  as  the  occasion  requires.  In  its  simplest  form  it 
consists  merely  of  a  square  piece  of  cloth  with  a  hole  in  the 
center  large  enough  for  the  head  to  pass  through,  the  size 
of  the  cloth  being  such  that,  when  thus  placed  ujoon  the 
shoulders,  it  will  reach  nearly  to  the  feet.  JSTow  slit  this 
cloth  down  through  the  middle  on  one  side,  and  upon  the 
opposite  edges  of  this  slit  sew  a  few  hooks-and-eyes  (which 
are  preferable  to  buttons  and  button-holes,  as  more  readily 
fastened  and  unfastened),  and  you  have  a  garment  which 
covers  every  part  of  the  person,  and  may  be  put  on  or 
thrown  off  in  a  moment  if  the  edges  of  the  slit  are  left  un- 
hooked. Make  arm-slits  of  sufficient  length  (which  should 
have  narrow  flaps,  capable  of  being  buttoned  over  when  de- 
sired), and  the  arms  will  be  perfectly  free  when  thrust 
through,  and  they  will  be  warmly  wrapped  up  when  their 
use  is  not  required.  Hook  the  edges  of  the  side-slit  to- 
gether, button  down  the  arm-hole  flaps,  and  you  have,  in 
effect,  one  piece  of  cloth.  Fold  this  in  the  middle,  and 
you  have  a  Scottish  shawl ;  fold  it  again,  and  you  have  a 
heavy  carriage-rug,  which  may  be  thrown  over  the  knees 
when  driving.  When  riding,  roll  it  into  a  bundle,  and 
strap  it  to  the  saddle,  and  it  can  be  unstrapped  and  put  on 
in  an  instant,  should  a  sudden  storm  arise,  and  its  long 
folds  will  cover  the  whole  person,  limbs  and  all,  like  a  mili- 
tary cloak. 


104  HEALTH  AT  HOME, 

It  should  be  made  of  a  single  thickness  of  cloth,  with- 
out linings  or  pockets  to  form  water-bags  during  a  storm. 
Should  it  get  wet,  all  you  have  to  do  is  to  hang  it  oyer  a 
line,  and  it  will  dry  in  a  quarter  of  the  time  which  would 
be  needed  to  dry  an  overcoat.  In  traveling  by  railway  or 
steamer,  it  may  be  strapped  to  the  valise,  and  so  be  at  hand 
for  instant  use  ;  or,  if  j)acked  into  a  trunk,  it  will  not  oc- 
cupy half  the  space  of  an  overcoat  of  half  its  protecting 
power.  Such  a  garment  is  always  graceful  and  becoming 
to  all  persons. 

In  fine,  as  far  as  regards  clothing  in  a  sanitary  point  of 
view,  every  article  of  dress  should  be  of  proper  materials 
for  its  purpose ;  should  be  so  fitted  and  fashioned  as  to 
present  the  least  possible  obstruction  to  the  free  action  of 
every  member  and  organ  of  the  body  ;  and  the  whole  should 
be  capable  of  easy  and  ready  adaptation  to  the  ever-vary- 
ing changes  of  season,  climate,  and  the  physical  condition 
of  the  wearer.  And  in  all  these  respects  it  is  just  as  easy 
to  be  dressed  properly  as  improperly.  All  the  rest  may  be 
left  to  the  choice  of  the  individual. 

Every  garment  should  be  removed  from  the  person  and 
thoroughly  aired  at  least  once  in  twenty-four  hours.  Many 
people  retain  at  night  a  part  of  the  clothing  that  has  been 
worn  during  the  day,  changing  only  the  outer  garments, 
especially  in  cold  weather.  If  the  bedroom  is  cold,  there 
may  be  wisdom  in  this,  at  least  for  elderly  people,  young 
children,  and  those  who  are  not  robust,  but  in  all  such 
cases  there  should  be  an  entire  change  of  clothing  at  some 
time  during  the  day,  in  a  warm  room. 

Erom  one  day  to  seven  is  as  long  as  any  under-garment 
should  be  worn  without  being  washed,  the  difference  hav- 
ing relation  less  to  the  amount  of  visible  impurity  which 
the  garment  has  gathered  from  dust,  etc.,  than  to  the  close- 
ness of  contact  between  the  garment  and  the  wearer's  skin, 
and  the  freedom  with  which  the  wearer  perspires.     Thus^ 


TEE  CLOTEIFG  WE  WEAR,  105 

if  we  regard  merely  sanitary  reasons,  an  iinder-sliirt  should 
be  changed  more  frequently  than  an  over-shirt,  although 
the  latter  will  appear  more  soiled  than  the  former.  It  is 
better  when  the  outer  clothing  is  of  such  material  that  it 
also  can  be  occasionally  washed,  especially  in  warm  weather. 
When  this  is  impossible,  particular  attention  should  be 
given  to  having  it  well  aired,  and  it  should  now  and  then 
be  well  cleaned  and  laid  aside  for  a  few  days  or  weeks. 

No  garment,  inner  or  outer,  should,  on  being  removed 
from  the  person,  immediately  be  folded  or  rolled  uji,  or  put 
into  a  close  place,  as  a  drawer,  trunk,  bag,  or  small  closet. 
Clothing  intended  for  the  wash  should  first  hang  for  sev- 
eral hours  in  a  room  or  large  closet  that  is  well  ventilated. 
It  may  then  be  put  into  a  bag  and  kept  in  any  airy  place 
until  wash-day.  Outer  garments,  after  being  aired,  may  be 
folded  and  laid  away,  but  no  garment  that  has  been  worn 
for  many  days  should  be  closely  packed  with  others  until 
it  has  been  cleaned  as  thoroughly  as  possible.  Similarly, 
cast-off  garments  should  not  be  consigned  to  the  rag-bag 
without  being  first  washed  or  otherwise  cleaned.  It  seems 
almost  unnecessary  to  mention  so  obvious  a  requirement, 
yet  from  the  time  of  the  prophet  Jeremiah,  when  ''  old 
cast  clouts  and  old  rotten  rags  "  were  found  in  ^^the  house 
of  the  king,  under  the  treasury,"  similar  foul  deposits  have 
not  been  wanting  in  close  connection  with  evidences  of 
wealth  and  refinement,  albeit  in  these  days  the  occasion  for 
using  them  to  as  good  purpose  as  was  then  done  does  not 
often  arise. 


XI. 

PERSONAL  HABITS. 

By  personal  habits  we  mean  eyerything  whicli  pertains 
to  the  regular  routine  of  our  usual  daily  life.  These  will 
of  necessity  yary  much  in  accordance  with  the  differences 
of  sex,  age,  and  physical  condition ;  much  also  with  the 
employments  which  fall  to  our  lot.  But,  within  certain 
and  not  yery  wide  limits,  the  same  general  princi^^les  will 
apply  to  all. 

First  and  foremost  comes  Personal  Cleanliness.  Eyery 
act,  no  matter  what,  inyolyes  the  contraction  or  production 
of  more  or  less  of  personal  uncleanliness  ;  and  this,  so  far 
as  the  surface  of  the  body  is  concerned,  can  be  got  rid  of 
only  by  washing.  A  daily  bath  is,  in  general,  a  promoter 
of  health.  The  high  importance  of  frequently  and  thor- 
oughly washing  the  entire  body  is  apparent  when  we  con- 
sider some  of  the  functions  pertaining  to  the  skin.  It  is  not 
a  mere  coyering  stretched  oyer  the  body  to  shield  inner  and 
more  important  parts  ;  it  is  one  of  the  most  delicately  organ- 
ized parts  of  the  whole  system  ;  and  among  its  functions  is 
that  of  acting  as  a  great  excretory.  It  is  estimated  that  an 
adult  in  full  health  takes  daily  into  his  stomach  some  eight 
or  nine  pounds  of  food  and  drink.  Now,  eyerything  that 
comes  into  the  system  must  go  out  of  it  in  some  way,  and 
almost  inyariably  in  a  condition  so  changed  that  its  further 
presence  within  the  body  would  be  deleterious.  Of  this 
amount  of  food  and  drink  some  three  or  four  pounds  a  day 


PERSONAL  HABITS.  107 

are  thrown  off  by  the  skin,  about  a  pound  by  the  lungs, 
and  the  remainder  by  the  intestines  and  kidneys. 

To  enable  the  skin  to  perform  this  work  it  is  provided 
with  a  system  of  minute  perspiration  tubes,  or  ducts,  open- 
ing from  within  the  body,  and  terminating  at  the  surface. 
The  total  length  of  these  ducts  is  set  down  at  nearly  thirty 
miles.  If  these  ducts  by  any  means  become  obstructed  or 
closed  up,  the  matter  which  should  have  been  thrown  off 
through  them  must  either  remain  festering  within  the  sys- 
tem, or  be  thrown  off  by  the  bowels,  kidneys,  or  lungs, 
which  thus  have  extra  work  imposed  upon  them.  If  these 
organs  are  in  a  strong  and  healthy  condition,  they  may  be 
able  to  perform  this  superadded  work.  But,  if  they  are 
weak,  they  begin  to  flag,  and  in  many  cases  they  break 
down  with  disease  caused  by  the  extra  duty  imposed  on 
them. 

Now,  the  orifices  of  these  ducts  are  continually  ^^  silting 
up,"  so  to  speak,  with  portions  of  this  effete  matter  in  a 
solid  or  semi-fluid  state  ;  and  it  is  this  which  is  washed 
away  by  ablution. 

It  is  only  the  effete  matter  lying  upon  or  very  near  the 
surface  that  is  thus  removed.  This,  indeed,  usually  consti- 
tutes the  greater  part  of  it.  But  there  is  almost  always 
more  or  less  of  such  deposit  throughout  the  entire  length 
of  the  ducts.  This  may  be  removed  by  what  may  be  called 
*^  flushing  "  the  ducts ;  that  is,  by  temporarily  increasing 
the  flow  of  perspiration  by  means  of  a  warm  bath,  and  still 
more  thoroughly  by  an  occasional  hot-air  bath,  vapor-bath, 
or  any  form  of  the  Russian  or  Turkish  bath. 

These  baths,  however,  should  be  used  with  much  cau- 
tion, and  rarely  without  the  advice  of  a  physician.  The 
intense  heat  causes  an  increase  of  the  heart's  action,  which 
in  some  conditions  of  the  circulatory  system  is  dangerous. 
The  general  and  special  exhaustion  consequent  on  excessive 
action  of  the  skin,  also  constitute  sources  of  danger,  par- 


108  EEALTU  AT  HOME. 

ti^nlarly  if  very  frequently  repeated.  There  is  no  harm  in 
the  occasional  use  of  such  a  bath  as  a  luxury  by  persons  in 
perfect  health,  proyided  that  suitable  reaction  and  rest  im- 
mediately follow,  and  in  some  cases  it  is  very  useful  as  a 
remedy  for  disease,  but  it  is  rarely  necessary  for  the  pur- 
pose of  cleanliness,  which  is  sufficiently  accomplished  by 
the  ordinary  methods  of  bathing. 

For  infants  a  daily  bath  is  very  necessary,  as  the  action 
of  the  skin  is  with  them  even  more  important  than  with 
adults.  Tor  those  who  are  not  infants  and  who  are  in  good 
health  it  is  very  desirable,  and  in  warm  climates,  as  well  as 
during  the  heat  of  summer  in  temperate  climates,  is  almost 
a  necessity. 

This  does  not  of  necessity  involve  that  one  should  take 
a  plunge-bath  every  day,  though  that  is  desirable.  But, 
outside  of  the  few  large  cities  abundantly  supplied  with 
water  by  aqueducts,  there  are  few  ordinary  dwellings  where 
this  can  be  attained.  But  in  almost  all  places  the  general 
end  can  be  reached  by  means  of  a  bathing-tub.  The  Eng- 
lish portable  bathing-tub  ^*  consists  of  a  shallow  metal  basin 
in  which  the  bather  can  stand.  The  center,  or  ^  well,'  of 
the  bath  is  about  twelve  inches  in  diameter,  and  about  nine 
inches  deep.  This  well  is  surrounded  by  a  broad  rim,  from 
eight  to  ten  inches  wide,  which  slopes  toward  the  center  all 
around.  In  this  bath  the  ablutionist  can  stand,  and  can 
wash  himself  from  head  to  foot  without  wetting  the  floor, 
since  the  broad,  sloping  rim  catches  the  water.  To  stand  in 
such  a  bath  as  this,  and  from  the  water  of  the  wash-hand 
basin  to  sponge  the  body  rapidly  over,  and  afterward  to  dry 
quickly  and  thoroughly,  is  everything  that  is  wanted,  if  the 
process  be  carried  out  daily ;  and  after  a  little  while  it  be- 
comes no  more  trouble  than  the  mere  washing  of  the  face, 
neck,  and  hands  which  so  many  are  content  to  accept  as  a 
perfected  daily  ablution." 

An  improvement  on  this    bathing  -  tub    is   common 


PERSONAL  HABITS,  109 

throughout  New  England,  though  for  some  reason  not  often 
met  with  elsewhere.  The  improvement  consists  in  having 
about  nine  inches  of  the  sloping  rim  raised  to  a  horizontal 
position  to  form  a  seat  on  one  side  of  the  well,  and  sup- 
ported by  two  legs  under  the  outer  edge.  There  is  also  a 
pipe  running  from  the  side  of  the  well,  near  the  bottom, 
under  the  seat  to  the  top  of  the  rim,  through  which,  by 
tipping  the  bath  upon  the  two  legs,  the  water  within  it 
may  be  discharged  into  a  pail  without  danger  of  overrun- 
ning the  sides,  as  when  poured  over  a  broad,  sloping  rim. 

A  square  yard  of  India-rubber  cloth  laid  upon  the  floor 
answers  quite  well  most  of  the  purposes  of  this  bathing- 
tub  ;  and  even  this  is  not  indispensable,  since,  if  the  sponge 
or  wash-cloth  be  not  unnecessarily  filled  with  water,  so  little 
will  reach  the  floor  that  it  may  easily  be  wiped  up. 

Some  persons  bathe  too  much.  They  have  an  idea  that 
bathing  is  conducive  to  health,  and  think  the  more  they 
have  of  it  the  better.  Bathing  promotes  health  in  two 
ways  :  first,  mechanically,  by  removing  noxious  and  ob- 
structive material  from  the  skin  ;  second,  physiologically, 
as  exercise  does,  by  promoting  the  circulation  of  blood  in 
the  part  bathed,  and  especially  in  the  skin. 

Like  exercise,  however,  bathing  benefits,  not  by  its  ac- 
tion but  by  the  reaction.  Its  first  effect  upon  the  skin, 
and  through  that  upon  the  system,  is  depressing.  It  is  the 
physiological  resistance  to  this  depression  that  constitutes 
what  we  call  reaction,  and  is  attended  with  increased  activ- 
ity of  the  circulation. 

If  a  person  is  not  very  vigorous,  too  frequent  or  too 
long  -  continued  bathing  induces  a  degree  of  dd|)ression 
which  the  system  has  not  power  successfully  to  resist,  and 
reaction  is  imperfect  or  does  not  occur.  If  a  bath  is  fol- 
lowed immediately,  or  shortly,  by  a  feeling  of  weariness  or 
of  chilliness,  it  has  done  harm  instead  of  good. 

Many  persons,  therefore,  in  tolerable  health,  but  not 


no  HEALTH  AT  HOME, 

very  robust,  will  not  be  benefited  by  a  daily  batb,  at  least 
in  cold  weather.  Thrice,  twice,  or  even,  once  weekly  is  as 
often  as  some  can  take  a  full  bath  with  advantage.  In 
most  cases  this  is  often  enough  to  secure  sufficient  cleanli- 
ness of  23erson  provided  the  clothing  is  aired  and  changed 
frequently,  and  the  extremities  are  often  washed. 

When  the  daily  bath  is  an  injury,  it  may  be  advanta- 
geously replaced  by  a  brisk  rubbing  of  the  body  with  a  dry 
towel,  with  a  brush,  or  with  the  hand.  It  is  better  that  this 
should  be  done  by  another  person,  if  possible.  Indeed, 
there  are  very  few  cases  in  which  a  daily  bath  would  do 
harm,  if  the  recipient  would  submit  to  be  bathed  and 
dressed  by  another,  as  is  done  in  the  case  of  an  infant  or  a 
sick  person,  and  if  ordinary  judgment  were  used  in  regulat- 
ing the  temperature  of  the  water  and  of  the  room. 

The  proper  tem]Derature  for  the  water  of  a  bath  is  that 
which  is  most  agreeable.  For  a  vigorous  person,  in  whom 
reaction  is  prompt  and  energetic,  a  cold  bath  is  refreshing 
and  useful.  A  cold  bath  is  one  in  which  the  temperature 
is  between  32°  and  60°  Fahr.  At  less  than  50°  the  bath  is 
very  cold.  Most  persons  will  find  pleasure  and  profit  in 
the  use  of  a  cool  bath,  that  is,  one  of  60°  to  75°,  during 
warm  weather,  though  for  some  a  temperate  bath  of  75° 
to  85°  is  preferable.  In  cold  weather  a  tepid  bath,  85°  to 
92°,  is  generally  agreeable  and  safe  for  those  who  can  not 
well  bear  the  lower  temperatures. 

From  92°  to  98°  a  bath  is  said  to  be  warm.  The  reac- 
tion following  a  warm  bath  is  somewhat  different  from  that 
which  follows  one  at  the  ordinary  temperatures  of  water.  It 
is  not  exhilarating,  but,  on  the  contrary,  induces  languor, 
promotes  perspiration,  and  disposes  to  sleep.  It  is  there- 
fore better  than  a  cold  bath  just  before  going  to  bed,  but 
should  seldom  be  taken  immediately  on  rising  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  never  just  before  severe  exercise  or  exposure  to 
cold.     The  hot  bath,  from  98°  upward,  is  similar  in  effect 


PEBSONAL  HABITS.  HI 

to  the  warm  bath,  but  more  intense,  and  should  be  used 
with  some  caution. 

The  temperature  of  the  room  in  which  the  bath  is  taken 
is  important.  To  secure  best  reaction  it  should  be  about 
70°  for  a  tepid  or  warm  bath,  and  neyer  much  below  60" 
for  a  cold  one. 

The  best  time  for  bathing  is  when  the  stomach  is  emj)ty 
or  nearly  so,  the  worst  is  just  after  a  full  meal.  Just  after 
rising,  then,  just  before  one  of  the  principal  meals,  and 
just  before  bedtime,  are  the  most  favorable  times.  A  cold 
bath,  in  particular,  should  never  be  taken  very  soon  after 
eating. 

Exercise  should  have  a  prominent  place  in  the  list  of  one's 
personal  habits.  Many  of  our  daily  occupations  and  em- 
ployments enforce  an  abundance  or  superabundance  of 
physical  exercise.  The  farmer  who  works  all  day  in  his  fields, 
or  the  mechanic  who  toils  all  day  at  his  bench,  has  exercise 
enough,  so  far  as  mere  amount  is  concerned  ;  but  most  of 
these  acts  must  be  performed  in  a  stooping  position  of  the 
body,  whether  the  person  be  sitting  or  standing.  The 
farmer  stoops  while  hoeing  and  digging,  while  planting  or 
earing ;  the  mechanic  stoops  over  his  work-bench,  and  so  on. 
l!^ow,  this  stooping  position  impedes  more  or  less  the  vital 
function  of  breathing.  Let  the  person  whose  labor  involves 
much  stooping  straighten  himself  up  every  now  and  then, 
throw  back  his  arms,  and  draw  a  few  full  breaths,  and  then 
go  back  to  his  work. 

But  many  employments  involve  very  little  physical  ex- 
ercise. The  accountant  or  student  does  not  exercise  at  his 
desk  or  table  ;  the  woman  does  not  exercise  in  her  sewing. 
For  such  persons  exercise,  in  itself  and  for  itself,  is  indis- 
pensable ;  and  the  modes  of  taking  it  are  innumerable. 

Walking,  especially  in  the  ojoen  air,  first  suggests  itself. 
When  one  walks  for  exercise  he  should  not  plod  along,  with 
head  bent  down ;  but,  with  form  erect  and  shoulders  well 


112  EEALTH  AT  HOME. 

thrown  back,  lie  should  step  out  with  free  and  easy  stride, 
the  gait  being  very  nearly  the  natural  OAe,  better  somewhat 
quicker.  If  the  walk  have,  moreover,  some  special  purpose 
besides  that  of  mere  exercise,  so  much  the  better.  If  it  is 
through  a  region  not  familiar  to  one,  he  is  constantly  on  the 
lookout  ^^to  see  what  he  can  see";  if  it  be  through  a  fa- 
miliar region  it  is  pleasant,  and  therefore  healthful,  to  see 
how  old  things  look  in  their  new  and  ever-changing  aspects. 
If  the  walk  is  along  a  city  street,  do  not  scruple  to  stop  and 
look  at  the  shop-windows. 

Horseback-riding  brings  into  play  a  set  of  muscles  quite 
too  little  used.  The  mere  act  of  keeping  one's  balance  in 
the  saddle  brings  into  active  though  not  violent  use  most 
of  the  muscles  of  legs,  arms,  back,  and  chest ;  while  the 
gentle  jolting  of  the  most  easy-going  steed  puts  the  abdom- 
inal muscles  into  more  active  play.  For  mere  exercise  a 
somewhat  hard-trotting  horse  is  to  be  preferred  to  a  more 
easy-going  one.  It  is  none  the  worse  if  the  horse  is  not  one 
which  the  proprietor  of  a  livery-stable  would  recommend 
as  '^  perfectly  trained,"  one  that  may  with  perfect  safety  be 
left  to  follow  his  own  ways ;  one  that  would  not  start  or 
shy  if  a  shell  should  explode  between  his  legs.  The  mere 
act  of  controlling  and  guiding  a  ^' lively"  horse  brings  into 
constant  and  ever-varying  exercise  many  a  muscle,  while 
there  is  exhilaration  in  the  consciousness  that  one  has  the 
power  of  controlling  an  animal  whose  strength  far  exceeds 
his  own. 

While,  however,  this  form  of  exercise  is  admirable  in  very 
many  cases,  it  requires  much  judgment  in  its  use.  Yery 
rapid  riding  and  leaping  are  attended  with  too  much  dan- 
ger to  be  commended  on  the  score  of  health.  One  *  who 
was  certainly  well  qualified  to  speak  on  the  subject  of  rid- 
ing says,  indeed,  that  ''  every  horseman  must  exj^ect,  sooner 
or  later,  to  be  thrown."     The  probability  of  this  accident 

*  Herbert,  "Hints  to  Horse-Keepers." 


PERSONAL  HABITS.  113 

is  not  sufficient  to  deter  any  one  in  ordinary  health  and 
strength  from  riding,  but  it  should  be  taken  into  the  ac- 
count in  deciding  as  to  the  advisability  of  this  form  of 
exercise  for  those  who  are  not  strong.  There  are  many 
forms  of  weakness  in  which  the  shock  from  a  fall,  or  even 
the  excitement  of  looking  out  for  one,  would  be  a  serious 
injury. 

Girls  and  women,  in  particular,  are  peculiarly  liable  to 
injury  from  incautious  horseback  exercise  ;  partly  because 
the  action  of  the  abdominal  muscles  induced  by  riding 
causes  pressure  on  organs  that  are  very  easily  injured  ; 
partly  because  their  mode  of  dress  aggravates  that  pressure, 
restrains  the  healthful  ^Dlay  of  muscles,  and  is  in  itself  bur- 
densome ;  and  partly  because,  as  some  one  has  said,  "  women 
ride  the  saddle,  while  men  ride  the  horse."  That  is  to  say, 
a  woman's  seat  on  horseback  is  less  firm  and  more  con- 
strained than  that  of  a  man,  and  she  can  not  have  the  same 
ease  and  elasticity  of  motion  in  connection  with  the  motion 
of  the  horse  as  he.  One  of  the  greatest  authorities  *  on  dis- 
eases of  women  says  that  a  considerable  proportion  of  such 
diseases  are  directly  due  to  injury  received  in  horseback- 
riding. 

Various  exercises  which  may  be  grouped  together  under 
the  designations  of  '^gymnastics"  and  ^'^ calisthenics"  are 
of  high  utility.  They  are  useful  as  suiDplements  to,  not  as 
substitutes  for,  walking  and  the  like.  The  chief  danger  in 
their  use  is  their  liability  to  be  made  too  violent  or  carried 
too  far.  It  is  well  to  climb  a  rope  hand-over-hand ;  to 
swing,  supported  only  by  the  hands ;  to  put  up  the  dumb- 
bells, to  brandish  the  clubs,  to  skip  the  rope,  and  all  that. 
But  there  is  no  sanitary  reason  why  one  should  put  himself 
to  the  test  in  order  to  ascertain  how  high  he  can  climb, 
how  long  he  can  swing,  how  heavy  a  weight  he  can  put  up, 
or  how  many  times  she  can  skip  the  rope  without  stopping. 

*  J.  Marion  Sims,  M.  D. 


114  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

Especially  should  due  caution  be  used  when  the  element  of 
competition  enters  into  the  exercise.  In  order  to  outdo  a 
competitor,  or  to  ayoid  being  outdone  by  him,  one  is  fre- 
quently led  to  go  beyond  his  strength.  In  such  case  the 
exercise  not  only  defeats  its  own  ^Durpose,  but  is  positively 
injurious.  It  breaks  down  the  physical  system  instead  of 
building  it  up. 

The  importance  of  system  and  regularity  in  all  things 
belonging  to  the  daily  round  of  life  is  very  great.  All  the 
operations  of  mind  and  body  are  subject  to  the  laws  of 
habit,  and  one  can  only  maintain  the  highest  condition  of 
health  by  so  systematizing  the  acts  which  necessarily  occur 
every  day  that  the  influence  of  habit  will  be  secured  to 
effect  the  natural  recurrence  of  each  of  these  in  its  proper 
time  and  place. 

For  instance,  eating  should  be  done  at  regular  intervals. 
It  does  not,  perhaps,  matter  very  much  whether  two,  three, 
or  four  meals  are  taken  in  the  twenty-four  hours^  provided 
that  sufficient  regularity  has  been  observed  in  the  matter 
to  fix  a  habit,  so  that  at  the  time  of  each  of  these  meals  the 
system  demands  a  certain  quantity  of  food  and  the  digestive 
organs  are  ready  to  take  care  of  it. 

Sleep  is  so  necessary  that  it  comes  to  us  whether  we  will 
or  not,  yet  it  is  only  by  observing  great  regularity  in  re- 
gard to  it  that  we  can  enjoy  health.  Habit  may  even  have 
something  to  do  with  the  number  of  hours  spent  in  sleep, 
and  it  certainly  is  all-powerful  in  determining  what  those 
hours  shall  be.  The  best  way  to  regulate  this  is  to  begin 
in  the  morning  ;  that  is,  to  rise  at  a  regular  hour.  Physi- 
cians, nurses,  and  some  others  whose  work  is  very  irregular 
as  to  time,  can  not  always  do  this,  but  the  great  majority 
of  people  can  and  should.  Early  rising  should  be  a  habit 
wherever  it  is  practicable,  for  many  reasons,  any  one  of 
which  would  be  sufficient.  It  prolongs  the  day,  so  that 
artificial  light  will  be  needed  for  comparatively  few  hours 


PERSONAL  EABITS.  115 

— yery  few  indeed  except  in  winter.  Daylight,  even  on  a 
cloudy  day,  is  far  better  for  the  eyes  than  the  best  artificial 
light.  If  one  rises  with  the  sun,  or  at  most  not  more  than 
half  an  hour  later,  he  will  soon  learn  at  what  hour  to  retire 
for  sleep.  He  should  retire  early  enough  to  afford  himself 
all  the  sleep  he  needs,  be  it  six  hours  or  twelve. 

Work  and  recreation  should  be  well  systematized,  not 
only  in  order  to  avoid  overdoing  at  certain  times,  but  in 
order  to  obtain  the  best  results  at  all  times,  and  in  order 
also  to  favor  regularity  in  other  things.  President  Day,  of 
Yale  College,  lived  to  be  ninety  years  old,  although  he  had 
heart-disease  during  the  greater  part  of  his  life,  and  it  is 
said  of  him  that  when  he  was  lecturing  and  the  bell  struck 
denoting  the  expiration  of  his  hour,  if  he  was  in  the  middle 
of  a  sentence  he  would  always  stop  as  soon  as  that  sentence 
was  finished,  and  if  it  was  not  a  very  short  one  he  would 
stop  without  finishing  it.  Another  instance  of  his  extreme 
regularity,  which  extended  to  all  things,  was  related  by  a 
student  who  used  to  make  the  fire  in  the  college  chapel  on 
winter  mornings,  and  who  was  accustomed,  after  doing  so, 
to  j)ace  up  and  down  the  room  until  the  president  arrived, 
in  response  to  the  tolling  of  the  bell,  to  conduct  the  morn- 
ing devotions.  He  was  accustomed  to  say  that  after  the 
first  stroke  of  the  bell  he  could  invariably  walk  across  the 
room  a  certain  number  of  times  and  a  half,  before  the 
president  entered  the  door. 

Eegularity  in  the  movement  of  the  bowels  is  perhaps 
more  important  to  health  than  in  any  other  one  thing,  not 
excepting  eating.  Many  painful  and  dangerous  diseases, 
and  a  vast  amount  of  physical  weakness  and  misery  not 
specified  as  disease,  are  the  direct  result  of  irregularity  in 
this  respect.  Once  daily  the  bowels  should  move,  and, 
ordinarily,  at  no  other  time.  This  can  readily  be  accom- 
plished by  any  one  in  ordinary  health  who  will  set  apart 
some  one  hour  in  the  day,  or  rather  some  one  period  in  the 


116  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

order  of  the  daily  routine,  siicli  as  the  time  of  rising,  im- 
mediately after  some  one  meal,  or  immediately  after  some 
act  which  takes  place  at  ahont  the  same  time  every  day,  go 
promptly  to  stool  at  that  time  each  day,  whether  the  desire 
is  felt  or  not,  and,  if  it  can  be  avoided,  not  go  during  the 
intervening  time.  In  the  course  of  a  few  days,  or  at  most 
a  few  weeks,  a  habit  will  thus  be  formed  that  is  invaluable. 

Clieerf Illness,  as  the  pervading  state  of  the  mind,  should 
be  assiduously  cultivated  and  maintained  as  one  essential 
condition  to  bodily  health.  A  mind  continually  depressed, 
sooner  or  later  induces  bodily  ailments.  Troubles  will,  in- 
deed, arise ;  let  them  be  borne  as  best  they  may.  They 
should  not  be  aggravated  by  brooding  over  those  which  are 
in  the  past,  or  looking  gloomily  for  those  which  may  be  in 
the  future.  Cheerfulness  is  to  be  cultivated  as  a  constant 
habit,  and  by  all  innocent  means  :  by  amusements,  by  social 
intercourse,  by  reading  pleasant  books,  and,  in  due  modera- 
tion, those  which  are  simply  funny,  and  not  in  any  way 
"instructive,"  in  the  ordinary  use  of  the  word.  Or,  to  sum 
up  all,  one  should  look  most  upon  the  bright,  not  upon  the 
dark  side  of  things. 

Whatever  the  exigencies  of  one's  business,  certain  times 
and  places  should  be  free  from  it.  Especially  should  it 
not  be  taken  to  the  table,  nor  to  bed.  l^either  should  any 
unpleasant  matter  be  suffered  to  intrude  here.  Meal-time 
should  always  be  a  time  of  cheerful  leisure,  if  possible  of 
pleasant  social  intercourse.  To  make  it  a  scene  of  preoccu- 
pation and  anxiety,  of  grudging  haste,  or  of  unpleasant 
inquiry  and  admonition,  is  to  place  a  premium  upon  dys- 
pepsia, while  to  line  one's  bed  with  balance-sheets  or  to 
make  it  a  place  for  contriving  ways  and  means,  is  to  rob  it 
of  its  office,  to  make  it  a  rack  of  torture,  from  which  one 
rises  exhausted  in  mind  and  body. 


XII. 

HOUSEHOLD  PEACTICE. 

Every  liead  of  a  family,  more  especially  the  motlier  of 
it,  should  be  qualified  to  act  to  a  certain  extent  as  the  fami- 
ly physician,  in  so  far  as  slight  cases  of  ordinary  occurrence 
are  concerned  ;  and  should  also  know  what  ought  to  be  done 
pending  the  arrival  of  a  physician  should  one  be  needed, 
or  in  circumstances  where  a  physician  can  not  be  obtained. 
'No  one  should  attempt  to  treat  serious  cases  independent  of 
a  ph3^sician  unless  it  is  unavoidable,  as  grave  consequences 
might  ensue ;  and  every  head  of  a  family  should  make  his 
choice  of  a  physician,  and  not  put  off  doing  so  until  the 
moment  when  his  services  are  urgently  required,  as  it  is  not 
possible  in  all  cases  under  such  circumstances  to  make  a 
wise  selection. 

There  is  a  little  work  entitled  ^^  Hints  and  Eemedies  for 
the  Treatment  of  Common  Diseases,"  compiled  by  Dawson 
W.  Turner,  D.  0.  L.,  ^^  Sometime  Student  of  Westminster 
Hospital  and  of  Charing  Cross  Hospital,"  and  ''^revised, 
corrected,  and  enlarged  by  Twelve  Eminent  Medical  Men, 
belonging  to  Different  Hospitals  in  London."  One  of  the 
very  highest  of  English  medical  authorities  pronounces  it 
to  be  '^the  best  thing  of  the  kind  ever  done  for  the  non-pro- 
fessional world."  Considerable  use  will  be  made  of  this 
work  in  the  chapters  which  are  to  follow.  A  list  of  the 
^^  remedies "  prescribed  in  this  book  would  include  pretty 
nearly  everything  which  a  physician  would  be  likely  to  pre- 


18  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

'scribe  for  a  large  circle  of  patients,  and  many  things  which 
would  be  Yainly  looked  for  in  a  well-eqnipped  druggist's 
shop. 

Our  family  medicine-chest  shall  be  u^Don  a  much  more 
moderate  scale,  and  shall  contain  nothing  which  any  well- 
trained  person  need  be  at  a  loss  how  to  apply.  It  shall  con- 
tain a  yial  of  each  of  the  following  :  sweet-oil,  hartshorn, 
spirits  of  camphor,  tincture  of  arnica,  soap-liniment,  cam- 
phor-liniment, sirup  of  ipecac,  tincture  of  ginger,  sweet 
spirits  of  niter,  essence  of  peppermint,  a  mixture  in  equal 
parts  of  laudanum,  s]Dirits  of  camphor,  tincture  of  capsicum 
and  tincture  of  rhubarb,  labeled  "  Cholera  Mixture,"  and 
a  flask  of  good  liquor  ( to  be  used  only  for  strictly  medici- 
nal purposes).  There  shall  be  a  package  of  ground  mus- 
tard (be  sure  that  it  is  unadulterated),  of  chlorate  of  potash, 
of  carbonate  of  magnesia  or  of  soda,  two  of  flaxseed  (ground 
and  whole),  and  a  few  seidlitz  powders.  Each  of  these  arti- 
cles should  be  kept  in  a  close  yessel  of  glass  or  tin,  and  these 
should  be  distinctly  labeled  so  that  there  may  be  no  mistak- 
ing one  for  another.  There  should  also  be  a  piece  of  stick- 
ing-plaster, a  roll  of  soft,  rags  for  bandages  and  plasters, 
a  little  cotton- wool,  a  spool  of  stout  thread,  a  soft  sponge, 
a  pair  of  sharp  scissors,  a  gi-aduated  medicine-glass  and  a 
dropping  tube.  Every  article  belonging  to  the  medicine- 
chest  should  be  kept  in  it,  and  nothing  else  should  be  put 
there. 

A  list  is  here  presented,  arranged  in  alphabetical  order, 
of  the  most  common  ailments  in  which  the  constant  or 
eyen  occasional  services  of  the  physician  may  not  be  re- 
quired. It  should,  however,  be  borne  in  mind  that  almost 
every  disease,  however  slight  in  its  beginnings,  may  assume 
an  aspect  so  serious  as  to  require  the  doctor.  But  in  such 
cases  the  treatment  suggested  is  advisable  until  his  attend- 
ance can  be  secured. 

Ague. — During  the  cold  fit  keep  the  patient  in  bed. 


HOUSEHOLD  PEACTICE.  119 

warmly  covered  ;  try  to  restore  warmth  by  rubbing  the 
hands  and  feet,  and  by  giving  hot  drinks,  such  as  tea, 
coffee,  barley-water,  etc.  During  the  hot  fit,  after  the  pa- 
tient has  been  relieved  by  perspiration,  check  the  perspira- 
tion gradually  by  sponging  the  body  with  lukewarm  water, 
wiping  the  sweat  off  with  hot  flannels  ;  then,  in  order  to 
relieve  the  thirst,  give  cold  drinks.  Be  careful  that  the 
patient  is  not  exposed  to  a  draught  of  cold  air.  The  use 
of  quinine  and  other  medicines  should  be  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  doctor. 

Boils. — In  their  very  beginning  these  can  often  be  dis- 
sipated by  gently  rubbing  them  for  five  minutes,  two  or 
three  times  a  day,  with  the  end  of  the  finger  dipped  in 
camphor-liniment.  There  is  a  common  notion  that  *^  boils 
are  healthy,"  and  that  they  should  be  encouraged  as  puri- 
fiers of  the  blood  rather  than  repressed.  This  is  a  mistake. 
They  impoverish  instead  of  purifying  the  blood,  and  the 
more  they  can  be  prevented,  or  the  more  quickly  they  can 
be  cured,  the  better.  If  a  boil  does  not  yield  to  the  treat- 
ment already  mentioned,  it  should  be  encouraged  to  "  come 
to  a  head,"  or  point,  and  suppurate  as  quickly  as  possible. 
With  this  view  a  hot  bath  may  be  taken — a  vapor-bath  if 
possible.  The  boil  should  be  dressed  with  a  poultice  made 
of  ground  flaxseed,  of  Indian-meal,  or  of  anything  else  that 
is  not  irritating  and  will  retain  heat  and  moisture.  The 
poultice  should  be  changed  often  enough  to  avoid  its  be- 
coming dry,  as  this  renders  the  boil  more  painful  and  re- 
tards its  progress. 

An  old  remedy,  and  one  that  is  very  efficacious  in  hast- 
ening the  development  of  the  boil,  although  from  the  irri- 
tation it  causes  it  is  much  more  painful  than  an  emollient 
poultice,  is  a  paste  made  of  soap  and  sugar  and  spread  upon 
a  piece  of  lint  or  soft  rag  to  cover  the  boil,  a  hole  being 
cut  in  the  center  of  the  covering  to  allow  the  escape  of  the 
matter. 


120  EEALTE  AT  HOME. 

A  boil  should  never  be  squeezed  or  pressed.  This  is 
often  done  after  it  has  broken  or  been  opened,  with  the  ob- 
ject of  discharging  the  matter  which  it  contains,  and  par- 
ticularly the  ''core."  It  always  increases  the  inflamma- 
tion, howeyer,  and  causes  the  formation  of  more  matter. 
The  better  plan  is  simply  to  retain  a  poultice  upon  it  for  a 
day  or  so  after  the  opening  appears,  to  promote  and  receiye 
the  discharge. 

If  a  boil  assumes  the  malignant  form  of  a  carbuncle,  do 
not  trifle  with  it,  but  send  for  the  doctor.  The  most  obyi- 
ous  characteristics  of  a  carbuncle  are  a  somewhat  darker 
color  and  greater  hardness  than  belong  to  a  boil,  a  tendency 
to  increase  in  size  without  fairly  pointing,  a  want  of  free 
eyacuation  of  its  contents  after  opening,  and  considerable 
feyer  and  general  exhaustion. 

Colds. — One  should  ayoid  exposure,  as  far  as  possible, 
by  means  of  proper  clothing  about  the  neck  and  chest.  If, 
howeyer,  he  has  ^'  caught  cold,"  let  him  coyer  himself  up 
warmly  in  bed,  putting  a  bottle  of  hot  water  at  his  feet,  to 
induce  perspiration.  If  he  has  ''  cold  in  the  head,"  so  as 
to  impede  the  breathing,  he  may  coyer  the  whole  face  with 
a  blanket,  breathing  through  it,  which  will  most  likely 
remove  the  obstruction.  The  essential  thing  is  to  induce 
perspiration.  An  excellent  remedy  for  a  cold  in  the  head 
is  to  smell  of  camphor  continuously,  or  nearly  so,  for  sey-' 
eral  hours.  The  most  convenient  way  of  doing  this  is  to 
tie  up  in  a  rag,  like  a  ''  sugar- teat,"  a  piece  of  camphor  the 
size  of  the  end  of  the  little  finger,  and  hold  this  to  the 
nose.  If  this  is  persevered  in  for  the  greater  part  of  a 
day,  it  will  rarely  fail  to  cure  a  recently  contracted  cold. 

Cramps. — Put  the  patient  at  once  into  a  hot  bath,  or,  if 
that  is  not  to  be  had  on  the  spot,  sponge  him  all  over  with 
water  as  hot  as  he  can  bear.  Unclasp  the  hands  if  they  are 
much  contracted.  Put  a  smelling-bottle  to  the  nose,  and 
give  a  little  weak  whisky-and-water.     Put  the  patient  into 


HOUSEHOLD  PRACTICE.  121 

a  bed,  previously  warmed  if  possible,  and  let  him  rest.  If 
the  cramp  affects  only  a  limb,  use  plenty  of  friction,  and 
extend  the  muscles  during  the  spasm. 

Corns. — Throw  away  the  tight  or  ill-fitting  shoes  which 
may  have  been  worn.  Put  a  small  poultice  over  the  corn 
during  the  night.  During  the  day  cover  the  afflicted  toe 
with  a  rag  saturated  with  lard,  or,  better,  with  glycerine. 
Be  very  careful  in  paring  corns.  It  is  safer  just  to  pick  off 
the  head  with  a  knife,  or  with  the  nails  of  the  thumb  and 
finger. 

Diarrhma, — In  ordinary  cases  the  '^cholera  mixture" 
already  described  will  prove  very  efficacious.  Fifteen  or 
twenty  drops  may  be  given  to  adults,  in  a  tablespoonful  or 
two  of  water,  and  repeated  three  or  four  times  if  neces- 
sary, at  intervals  of  two  or  three  hours.  To  children  a 
proportionate  dose  should  be  given.  A  good  way  to  deter- 
mine the  dose  of  this  and  of  most  medicines  suitable  for  a 
child  is  to  make  the  age  of  the  child,  expressed  in  years, 
the  numerator  of  a  fraction,  and  the  same  increased  by 
twelve  the  denominator.  The  fraction  will  then  show  what 
part  of  the  adult  dose  is  to  be  taken.     Thus,  for  a  child 

12  12 

twelve  years  old,  r-r- — r^=7r7>  or  one  half  of  the  dose  for 
•^  12+12      24 

an  adult ;  for  a  child  six  years  old,  -x-ttt^  =  tt^,  or  one  third 
'  -^  6+12      18 

of  the  dose  for  an  adult ;  and  so  on  in  most  cases  down  to 
one  year  of  age,  below  which  the  rule  fails.  In  all  cases  of 
diarrhoea  in  children  under  five  years  of  age,  however,  a 
physician  should  be  called.  So  should  he  be,  in  all  cases 
occurring  in  old  people,  as  well  as  in  all  severe  cases,  in 
those  that  are  accompanied  with  fever  or  with  great  ex- 
haustion, and  in  those  where  the  *^ cholera  mixture,"  used 
as  above  directed,  fails.  It  is  proper  in  every  case  of  diar- 
rhoea to  put  the  patient  to  bed,  and  keep  him  quiet  on 
his  back.  Por  food,  let  him  have  dry  toast,  tea  without 
6 


122  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

milk^  rice-j)udding,  or  arrowroot ;  but  no  meat  or  vegeta- 
bles. 

Earache. — Turn  tlie  head  well  over  on  the  opposite  side, 
and  having  warmed  a  little  sweet-oil  in  a  spoon,  let  a  drop  of 
it  run  into  the  ear.  Or,  roast  an  onion  in  the  oven,  and 
when  it  is  quite  soft  take  out  the  heart  and  put  that,  warm, 
into  the  orifice  of  the  ear  ;  then  put  on  a  bandage  to  retain 
the  heat.  If  earache  occurs  frequently,  consult  a  physi- 
cian. 

Headache. — This  comes  from  a  variety  of  causes,  and 
different  cases  require  different  treatment.  The  great  ma- 
jority of  cases,  however,  belong  to  three  principal  classes, 
commonly  known  as  nervous  headache,  sick  headache,  and 
neuralgic  headache.  The  first  variety  is  usually  caused  by 
fatigue  or  excitement,  and  may  often  be  cured  by  a  cup  of 
moderately  strong  tea  and  a  hot  foot-bath.  The  tea  will 
have  little  effect,  however,  on  those  who  use  it  habitually. 
If  the  head  is  hot  and  throbbing,  cold  applications  to  it  will 
be  useful.  Eest,  in  a  darkened  but  well- ventilated  room, 
is  very  desirable. 

Sick  headache  is  caused  by  indigestion  or  by  some  stom- 
ach disorder.  It  originates  sometimes  in  an  error  of  diet, 
sometimes  in  cold  or  fatigue  impairing  the  power  of  the 
stomach  to  perform  its  work.  In  perhaps  nine  cases  out  of 
ten  it  can  be  cured  or  greatly  relieved,  in  from  five  minutes 
to  half  an  hour,  by  swallowing  about  as  much  red  pepper 
as  can  be  taken  up  on  the  point  of  a  penknife,  mixed 
in  two  tablespoonfuls  of  water.  If  the  feet  are  cold  they 
should  be  put  into  hot  water  and  afterward  quickly  dried 
and  warmly  wrapped  up.  It  is  best  to  lie  down.  The  body 
should  be  kept  warm,  and  it  is  a  good  plan  to  put  a  mus- 
tard-plaster over  the  pit  of  the  stomach.  Applications  to 
the  head  will  generally  be  of  very  little  use. 

Neuralgic  headache  may  be  known  by  its  occurring  on 
one  side  of  the  head.     It  frequently  affects  one  eye,  some- 


HOUSEHOLD  PRACTICE.  123 

times  causing  it  to  overflow  with  tears.  Cold  applications 
to  the  head  will  do  no  good,  but  hot  ones — as  hot  as  can  be 
borne — frequently  give  great  relief.  The  red  pepper  also, 
as  recommended  for  sick  headache,  often  acts  like  a  charm 
in  these  cases.  Mustard,  if  used  at  all,  should  be  applied 
over  or  near  the  seat  of  pain — of  course  not  about  the  eye, 
but  on  the  forehead,  temple,  or  back  of  the  neck,  accord- 
ing to  circumstances.  Neuralgic  headache  occurs  generally 
in  debilitated  persons,  and  indicates  a  low  condition  of  the 
system,  requiring  tonic  treatment,  for  which  a  physician's 
services  should  be  had. 

There  is  a  form  of  headache  caused  by  a  cold  in  the 
head.  It  consists  in  a  dull,  wearisome,  sickening  pain 
across  the  brows,  lasting  usually  from  one  to  three  days, 
due  to  an  accumulation  of  mucus  within  a  cavity  in  the 
frontal  bone  that  communicates  with  the  nose.  JSTo  exter- 
nal application  has  much  effect  on  it,  and  the  best  treat- 
ment for  it  is  that  recommended  for  a  cold,  particularly 
that  of  camphor. 

Hives. — This  disorder  is  usually  caused  by  irritation  of 
the  digestive  organs  resulting  from  the  presence  of  undi- 
gested food.  In  many  persons  it  always  follows  the  eating 
of  certain  kinds  of  food,  such  as  shell-fish,  honey,  etc. 
There  is  scarcely  an  article  of  food  known  that  does  not  in 
some  persons  invariably  produce  it.  Others  are  affected 
with  it  whenever,  from  overeating,  fatigue,  or  any  cause, 
they  suffer  indigestion.  The  proper  treatment  is  to  empty 
the  stomach  by  an  emetic.  Sirup  of  ipecac  may  be  given 
for  this  purpose,  in  doses  of  one  or  two  teaspoonfuls  every 
fifteen  minutes  until  it  acts.  After  the  vomiting  is  finished, 
if  any  irritation  remains,  a  Sedlitz  powder  will  commonly 
be  all  that  is  necessarv  to  remove  it. 

Sore-Throat. — In  slight  cases,  rubbing  the  throat  exter- 
nally with  a  mixture  of  hartshorn  and  sweet-oil,  in  the  pro- 
portion of  one  part  of  the  former  to  three  of  the  latter,  will 


124  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

usually  suffice.  A  very  useful  gargle  for  an  ordinary  sore- 
throat  is  made  by  dissolving  about  a  teaspoonf ul  of  chlorate 
of  potash  in  a  glass  of  water.  This  should  be  used  as  often 
as  once  in  two  hours.  In  case  of  inability  to  gargle,  a  des- 
sertspoonful of  the  mixture  may  be  swallowed  every  two 
hours.  Slight  soreness  of  the  throat  is  sometimes  accom- 
panied by  a  tickling,  irritated,  or  dry  feeling,  which  gives 
rise  to  an  annoying  and  almost  constant  cough.  This  can 
frequently  be  allayed  by  letting  small  pieces  of  gum-arabic 
or  extract  of  licorice  (black  licorice)  dissolve  upon  the 
tongue.  In  all  cases  of  severe  sore-throat,  and  in  those 
accompanied  by  any  considerable  fever  or  exhaustion,  a 
physician  should  be  called. 

StomacJi-aclie. — In  infants  this  is  usually  owing  to 
'^  wind  "  in  the  stomach  or  bowels.  Before  giving  any  med- 
icine, try  gentle  and  steady  rubbiug  with  the  palm  of  the 
hand,  then  throw  the  infant  over  your  shoulder,  so  that  the 
stomach  will  press  closely  against  it.  Very  rarely  will  any 
medicine  be  required.  Stomach-ache  in  older  children  is 
frequently  occasioned  by  the  eating  of  unripe  fruit,  or  some- 
thing of  the  kind.  When  this  is  known  to  be  the  case,  a 
dose  or  two  of  sirup  of  i]3ecac  will  be  the  most  j^rompt  and 
effectual  remedy.  If  the  pain  is  not  caused  by  the  presence 
in  the  stomach  of  improper  food,  it  may  often  be  relieved 
by  taking  a  few  drops  (five  to  ten  drops  for  an  adult,  and  a 
proportionate  dose  for  a  child)  of  essence  of  peppermint  on 
a  lump  of  sugar.  At  the  same  time  a  mustard-plaster  or 
flannels  wrung  out  of  hot  water  may  be  applied  over  the 
stomach  and  bowels.  In  all  cases  the  patient  should  be  kept 
warm  and  quiet. 

Toothache. — In  all  cases  it  is  best  to  consult  a  thoroughly 
competent  dentist  as  soon  as  may  be.  As  a  temporary  meas- 
ure until  this  can  be  done,  if  the  tooth  has  a  visible  cavity^ 
a  bit  of  cotton  wet  with  a  drop  of  oil  of  cloves  or  of  creosote 
may  be  inserted  in  it.     This  should  be  done  by  another  per- 


EOUSEHOLD  PRACTICE.  125 

son,  in  order  to  avoid  toucliing  the  tongue  or  gum,  wliicli 
would  be  made  sore  by  the  contact.  If  no  cavity  is  appar- 
ent, a  small  mustard-plaster  or  any  hot  application  may  be 
used  on  the  face  over  the  seat  of  pain.  In  no  case  have 
anything  to  do  with  patent  nostrums — ^^toothache-drops" 
and  the  like. 

Vomiting. — When  this  is  obstinate,  and  the  stomach 
will  retain  nothing,  and  medical  aid  can  not  be  had,  keep  the 
patient  perfectly  quiet  upon  his  back  in  bed.  Give  him  no 
food  for  some  hours,  and  then  only  in  very  small  quantities 
and  at  long  intervals.  A  little  milk  and  lime-water  mixed 
in  equal  quantities  will  often  be  retained  when  nothing  else 
will  stay  down.  A  mustard-plaster  will  generally  help  to 
quiet  the  stomach.  It  should  be  large  enough  to  cover  the 
whole  of  the  stomach.  The  white  of  an  Qgg  beaten  up 
with  a  teaspoonful  of  brandy  and  given  a  very  little  at 
a  time,  or  a  little  arrowroot,  will  sometimes  be  retained 
when  nothing  else  will. 

In  cases  of  severe  or  protracted  illness,  good  nursing  is 
as  essential  as  good  doctoring,  and  every  child,  especially 
every  female,  should  be  trained,  as  she  grows  up,  to  under- 
stand the  proper  care  of  the  sick-room. 

The  nurse  should  know  how  to  use  the  common  reme- 
dies of  the  domestic  medicine-chest,  and  especially  how  to 
follow  exactly  the  directions  of  the  physician  should  his 
aid  be  required.  She  should  know  how  to  prei:)are  the 
foods  and  drinks  appropriate  for  the  sick,  or  demanded  by 
a  perhaps  capricious  appetite,  or  want  of  appetite.  She 
should  bear  in  mind  that  a  sick  person  is  in  a  state  very 
different  from  that  of  a  healthy  one,  mental  as  well  as  phys- 
ical. The  senses,  especially  those  of  hearing  and  smelling, 
are  often  abnormally  acute.  A  sound  or  smell  which  would 
scarcely  be  noticed  in  health  may  be  terribly  annoying  in 
sickness. 

The  windows  of  a  sick-room  should  not  be  darkened  by 


126  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

drawing  lieayy  curtains  or  closing  the  shutters,  except  in 
the  infrequent  cases  when  light  is  painful  to  the  eyes.  The 
light  may  be  moderated,  when  too  intense,  by  partially  clos- 
ing the  shutters,  or  by  a  light  screen  or  curtain.  The  pa- 
tient has  little  to  do  hour  after  hour  but  to  look  around  him, 
and  no  disagreeable  objects  should  meet  his  yiew ;  none 
especially  which  can  serve  as  constant  reminders  of  his  con- 
dition. At  best  he  must  have  quite  enough  of  these.  The 
medicine-vials  should  not  stand  in  full  view  upon  the  man- 
tel-shelf, but  upon  a  stand  where  they  will  be  out  of  his 
sight.  It  is  better  that  the  utensils  used  for  preparing  food 
and  the  like  should  be  kept  in  another  room  or  in  a  closet. 
Perfect  neatness  should  be  maintained  in  every  respect. 

The  nurse,  and  any  other  person  who  may  now  and 
then  be  in  the  room,  should  retain  as  far  as  possible  their 
ordinary  demeanor.  There  should  be  no  tiptoeing  around 
the  room  ;  no  smothered  whispering  in  any  case.  The 
sharp  hiss  of  a  whisper  is  more  annoying  to  an  ear  abnor- 
mally sensitive  than  a  quite  loud  tone  of  the  natural  speak- 
ing voice.  A  soft  low  voice  is  an  excellent  thing  in  all 
women,  especially  so  in  a  nurse. 

The  patient  should  not  be  worried  by  being  incessantly 
asked  how  he  feels.  Every  such  question  sets  him  upon  a 
sort  of  physical  self  -  inspection  ;  and  this  constant  intro- 
spection is  not  well,  even  for  one  in  health,  much  less  for 
one  out  of  health.  Absolute  silence  in  a  sick-room,  except 
when  the  patient  is  asleep  or  may  be  inclined  to  sleep,  is 
not  desirable.  Eest  and  repose  are  the  ends  in  view ;  and 
rest  and  rej)ose  are  as  much  interrupted  by  an  unnatural 
stillness  as  by  noises. 

In  ordinary  cases  food  should  not  be  urged  upon  an 
invalid  who  has  no  desire  for  it.  The  cessation  of  appetite 
is  a  flag  of  warning  which  the  stomach  hangs  out  in  token 
that  it  has  as  much  food  as  it  can  digest,  and  wants  no 
more.     The  constant  urging  of  food  upon  one  who  has  no 


HOUSEHOLD  PRACTICE.  127 

appetite  for  it,  defeats  tlie  end  in  view.  The  yery  idea  of 
food  thus  urged,  although  it  is  not  present,  not  unfrequently 
becomes  loathsome.  One  should  not  keep  continually  ask- 
ing the  patient  if  he  would  not  like  a  little  of  this,  that,  or 
the  other  delicacy,  although  they  may  be  quite  proper  in 
themselves.  Better  prepare  the  dish  and  present  it  nicely 
served  upon  a  clean  waiter.  Perhaps  the  unexpected  sight 
of  it  may  incite  a  little  appetite.  But  even  in  this  respect 
too  little  is  better  than  too  much.  Where  nourishment  is 
absolutely  required  by  one  who  has  no  desire  for  it,  the  ad- 
vice of  the  physician  should  be  specially  asked. 

In  every  ease  the  warming  and  ventilation  of  a  sick- 
room should  be  constantly  and  carefully  seen  to.  The  pa- 
tient will  be  covered  by  bedclothes,  and  the  nurse  will  be 
almost  constantly  moving  about,  so  that  the  uniform  tem- 
perature of  the  sick-room,  in  cold  weather,  while  a  little 
higher  than  that  desirable  in  an  ordinary  bedroom,  should 
be  a  little  lower  than  that  best  adapted  for  a  sitting-room. 
At  least  twice  during  the  day  the  apartment,  however  well 
ventilated,  should  be  thoroughly  aired.  The  patient  should 
be  well  covered,  and  the  fresh  air  freely  admitted  through 
the  opened  window.  If  the  air  is  too  cold,  a  light  shawl 
may  be  placed  over  the  head  and  face,  serving  as  a  sort 
of  ^'respirator."  When  the  airing  is  complete,  tjie  win- 
dow should  be  closed  and  the  temperature  of  the  room 
be  brought  back,  as  speedily  as  may  be,  to  its  proper  degree. 

The  face,  hands,  and  feet  should  be  sponged  off  fre- 
quently with  water  of  any  temperature  which  may  be  most 
agreeable  to  the  patient.  The  wliole  body  also,  though  less 
frequently,  should  be  sponged  off.  If  the  hands,  feet,  or 
any  other  parts  are  cold,  bottles  of  hot  water  may  be  ap- 
plied as  long  as  necessary. 

The  bedding  and  the  clothing  of  the  patient  should  be 
frequently  changed  and  thoroughly  aired,  for  the  exhala- 
tions from  the  body  in  sickness  are  usually  far  more  delete- 


128  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

rious  than  in  health.  Moreover,  the  natural  evacuations 
must  be  performed  in  the  room — not  unfrequently  in  the 
bed  itself.  These,  however  quickly  removed,  always  leave 
more  or  less  of  foul  and  unhealthy  odors  behind  them, 
which  should  be  destroyed  by  disinfectants,  not  merely 
covered  up  by  perfumes.  T'or  this  purpose  disinfection  by 
iodine  (as  described  at  page  79)  is  specially  adapted.  Most 
disinfectants  have  an  unpleasant  odor,  while  that  of  iodine 
is  in  itself  agreeable,  and  even  positively  healthful. 

To  sum  up  all :  The  nurse,  or  the  member  of  the  family 
who  acts  as  such,  should  be  quiet  and  gentle  in  manner  and 
movement ;  watchful  and  alert,  without  being  obtrusively 
so  ;  firm  and  decided  when  necessary,  without  any  needless 
display  of  firmness  or  decision  ;  tender  and  sympathizing 
always,  without  parading  her  sympathy ;  cheerful  and  self- 
contained  in  any  emergency,  for  which  she  should  if  possi- 
ble be  prepared,  and,  if  not  fully  prepared,  never  to  let  the 
patient  susj)ect  it. 

All  these  qualities  can  be  fully  secured  only  by  training. 
Many  women  are  naturally  endowed  with  them  in  a  high 
degree  ;  there  are  few  who  can  not  acquire  them  to  a  good 
degree.  The  mother  or  sister  who  possesses  these  qualifi- 
cations in  any  good  degree  is  in  a  very  wide  sense  the 
family  doctor,  and  is  in  all  respects  a  welcome  aid  to  the 
physician. 


XIII. 

POISONS  AND  ANTIDOTES. 

A  POISOK  is  any  substance  wliicli,  when  introduced  into 
tlie  system,  has  the  power  of  producing  fatal  or  noxious 
effects  by  other  than  mechanical  means.  An  antidote  is 
any  substance  which,  when  introduced  into  the  system,  is 
capable  of  preventing  or  combating  the  effects  of  a  poi- 
son. Some  antidotes  act  chemically,  by  combining  with 
the  poisons,  thus  producing  new  and  harmless  compounds  ; 
others  act  physiologically,  by  inducing  in  the  system  effects 
which  counteract  those  of  the  poisons. 

The  diversity  of  effects  produced  by  different  poisons 
renders  anything  like  a  common  antidote — that  is  to  say,  an 
antidote  useful  in  all  or  most  cases  of  poisoning — an  impos- 
sibility. To  some  poisons  there  are  no  known  antidotes, 
and  in  most  cases  of  poisoning,  owing  to  various  circum- 
stances, the  action  of  antidotes  is  more  or  less  uncertain. 

In  all  cases  of  known  or  suspected  poisoning,  the  near- 
est physician  should  be  instantly  sent  for,  and,  if  possible, 
several  messengers  should  be  dispatched  at  the  same  mo- 
ment for  different  physicians,  as  one  or  two  may  be  away 
from  home,  and  a  delay  of  five  minutes  in  going  from  one 
to  another  may  prove  fatal.  The  messengers  should  be  in- 
structed to  tell  the  physicians  on  first  seeing  them  that  it 
is  a  case  of  poisoning,  and,  if  the  kind  of  poison  is  known 
or  guessed  at,  to  mention  it. 

Without  waiting  for  the  arrival  of  any  of  the  physicians, 


130  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

but  at  the  very  instant  of  sending  for  them,  in  every  case 
where  poison  has  been  swallowed,  with  one  exception,  an 
emetic  should  be  given.  For  this  purpose  anything  that 
is  at  hand  and  that  will  produce  vomiting  without  being  m 
itself  poisonous  may  be  used.  One  who  has  a  knowledge 
of  drugs  will  prefer  certain  emetics,  if  they  are  at  hand,  as 
being  more  rapid  in  their  action  than  others,  or  as  being 
perhaps  especially  adapted  to  the  particular  poison  that  has 
been  swallowed.  If  this  knowledge  does  not  pre-exist,  how- 
ever, there  is  no  time  to  acquire  it,  and  in  domestic  prac- 
tice a  teasiDOonful  of  ground  mustard  or  a  tablespoonful  of 
salt  stirred  into  a  cupful  of  lukewarm  water  will  generally 
prove  the  readiest  emetic,  and  a  very  safe  and  efficient 
one. 

Whatever  emetic  is  used,  its  action  should  be  assisted 
and  the  poison  diluted  by  drinking  large  quantities  of 
lukewarm  water.  The  drinking  of  the  water  and  vomiting 
should  be  repeated  at  intervals  of  five  or  six  minutes  for  at 
least  half  an  hour  or  until  a  physician  arrives. 

It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  some  poisons  diminish 
the  susceptibility  of  the  stomach  to  emetics,  so  that  these 
may  fail  of  effect.  Also,  some  persons  are  naturally  un- 
susceptible to  emetics.  In  all  such  cases  recourse  must  be 
had  to  other  means  of  inducing  vomiting,  such  as  tickling 
the  inside  of  the  throat  with  a  feather  or  with  the  finger 
thrust  in  through  the  mouth.  Speedy  and  persistent  vom- 
iting is  the  one  thing  to  be  sought  by  any  possible  means. 
In  these  cases,  as  well  as  in  others,  the  warm  water  should 
be  freely  drunk,  as  a  dilutent. 

The  one  exception  to  the  rule  of  giving  emetics  and  of 
diluting  the  poison  with  water,  is  when  sulphuric  acid  has 
been  swallowed.  This  substance  has  the  curious  property 
of  producing,  when  mixed  with  water,  a  degree  of  heat 
equal  to  or  greater  than  that  of  boiling  water.  For  this 
reason  water  and  all  mixtures  containing  it  must  in  this 


POISONS  AND  ANTIDOTES  131 

case  be  withheld,  and  vomiting  must  be  provoked  by  other 
means,  as  recommended  in  cases  where  emetics  fail  to  act. 

Emetics  may  be  considered  as  antidotes,  in  one  sense,  to 
poisons  in  general,  since  they  tend  (by  discharging)  to  pre- 
vent the  action -of  the  latter,  but  they  are  not  generally 
so  classed,  nor  are  they  to  be  depended  on  alone.  In  all 
cases  where  special  antidotes  are  known,  their  use  is  to  be 
conjoined  with  that  of  emetics.  In  most  cases  it  is  best  to 
give  the  antidote  at  once,  without  waiting  for  the  action  of 
the  emetic  to  be  finished,  in  order  to  neutralize,  as  far  as 
may  be,  the  effect  of  the  poison  while  the  latter  remains  in 
the  stomach  ;  and  after  the  vomiting  has  ceased  the  antidote 
should  be  used  again,  in  order  to  prevent,  if  possible,  the 
action  of  any  poison  that  may  have  passed  beyond  the 
stomach. 

Poisons  act  in  one  or  more  of  the  following  modes  : 

1.  By  a  direct  local  corrosion  of  the  stomach  and  aliment- 
ary canal ;   this  is  the  case  with  most   mineral   poisons. 

2.  By  a  general  devitalizing  action,  when  they  have  been 
introduced  into  the  system  through  the  blood.  3.  By  a 
specific  derangement  of  the  functions  of  one  or  more  or- 
gans, accompanied  by  little  or  no  apparent  change  in  the 
tissues  of  the  organs  themselves. 

Poisons  are  derived  from  the  animal,  vegetable,  and 
mineral  kingdoms.  It  is  a  common  error  to  suppose  that 
vegetable  poisons  are  less  injurious  than  mineral  ones. 
The  fact  is  the  very  reverse.  The  most  deadly  poisons 
(such  as  prussic  acid  and  strychnine)  are  vegetable.  The 
announcement  in  respect  to  innumerable  quack  medicines 
that  they  are  ^^  purely  vegetable,"  or  that  they  ^^  contain 
no  minerals,"  is  utterly  misleading,  and  not  unfrequently 
a  gross  imposition. 


132  HEALTH  AT  HOME, 


AN"I3rIAL  POISOITS. 


Chief  among  these  is  the  yirus  of  venomous  reptiles 
and  insects,  conveyed  by  their  **bite,^^  as  it  is  erroneously 
called,  or  by  their  sting.  Serpents  and  insects  do  not  bite 
at  all ;  they  stab,  with  poisoned  weapons.  In  temperate 
regions  venomous  serpents  are  not  numerous  in  species,  and 
in  settled  regions  they  have  been  pretty  nearly  extermi- 
nated except  within  very  limited  localities.  In  tropical  re- 
gions they  are  far  more  numerous  in  species  and  more 
prolific  in  individuals.  Serpent-poisons  have  this  peculiar- 
ity, that,  while  exceedingly  dangerous  when  introduced  into 
the  circulation  through  the  blood,  they  may  be  taken  into 
the  mouth,  or  even  swallowed,  with  perfect  safety,  pro- 
vided always  that  there  is  no  sore,  cut,  or  abrasion  of  the 
mucous  membrane  ;  so  that  one  may  suck  out  the  virus  from 
the  wound  occasioned  by  a  ^^  snake-bite,"  either  upon  his 
own  person  or  upon  that  of  another,  provided  always,  as 
just  stated,  that  there  be  no  sore,  cut,  or  abrasion  of  the 
lips,  tongue,  or  mouth.  Good  sense,  of  course,  indicates 
that  the  poison  should  not  be  swallowed,  but  spat  out  at 
once.  The  same  is  supposed — rather  from  analogy  than 
from  well-verified  experiments — to  be  the  case  in  respect 
to  the  virus  of  a  rabid  dog,  which  produces  hydrophobia. 

In  case  one  has  been  bitten  by  a  venomous  serpent  (say 
a  rattlesnake),  the  first  thing  to  be  done,  in  case  (as  is  most 
usual)  the  wound  be  uj)on  a  limb,  is  to  apply  a  ligature 
very  tightly  above  the  wound,  that  is,  between  it  and  the 
body,  in  order  to  prevent  the  further  circulation  of  the  poi- 
son through  the  system  by  the  arteries  and  veins  ;  then  the 
venom  is  to  be  sucked  out  from  the  wound.  After  this  the 
wound,  which  will  probably  be  much  inflamed,  should  be 
treated  like  any  ordinary  wound,  only  that  there  should  be 
no  effort  to  close  it  up  speedily  ;  it  is  better  that  it  should 
be  left  running  for  a  while.    The  further  treatment  is  purely 


POISONS  AND  ANTIDOTES.  133 

medicinal,  aiming  to  counteract  the  effects  of  tlie  poison 
already  introduced  into  the  system.  It  seems  to  be  well 
settled  that  whisky  or  other  strong  alcoholic  liquor,  taken 
even  in  quantities  which  would  be  dangerous  in  any  other 
case,  acts  as  a  powerful  agent  in  counteracting  the  effects 
of  a  snake-bite.  Probably  altogether  fictitious  are  the  stories 
which  we  read,  that  there  is  an  herb  known  to  the  mon- 
gous — the  great  serpent-destroyer  of  India — which  is  a  per- 
fect antidote  to  the  yenom  of  eyen  the  cobra,  the  most 
dreaded  of  all  the  serpent  family. 

In  case  of  being  bitten  by  a  dog  known  or  supposed  to 
be  rabid,  about  all  that  can  be  done  is  to  suck  the  wound, 
and  then  cut  out  or  cauterize  the  adjacent  parts.  One  can 
rarely  do  this  for  himself,  and  it  is  probably  safer  to  leaye 
it  to  be  done  by  a  surgeon,  since  the  yirus,  whatever  it 
may  be,  is  one  which  is  very  slowly  taken  into  the  sys- 
tem. Weeks  always,  months  not  unfrequently,  and  years 
sometimes,  it  is  said,*  elapse  after  the  wounding  before  the 
effects  manifest  themselves  in  the  form  of  hydrophobia. 
No  time  should  be  lost,  however,  in  getting  the  surgeon's 
help.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  it  by  no  means  fol- 
lows, from  the  fact  that  a  dog  has  bitten  any  one,  that  the 
animal  is  rabid.  The  wound  inflicted  by  the  teeth  of  any 
dog,  or  indeed  of  most  animals,  man  not  excepted,  is  more 
severe  than  a  similar  wound  by  a  cutting  or  piercing  imple- 
ment. 

The  '^ bites"  and  stings  of  insects,  such  as  bugs,  fleas, 
mosquitoes,  wasps,  hornets,  and  bees,  may  properly  be 
classed  among  animal  poisonings  ;  since,  although  they  are 
not  fatal  or  even  dangerous  except  in  very  rare  instances, 
they  are  often  anno3dng  to  the  last  degree.  When  one  has 
been  stung  by  a  bee  or  wasp  — the  former  of  which  can  not 

*  The  best  authorities  generally  place  the  shortest  and  longest  probable 
periods  at  one  week  and  one  year  respectively,  holding  that  outside  of  these 
limits  it  is  scarcely  possible  the  disease  can  occur. 


134  BE  ALTS  AT  EOMK 

withdraw  his  poisoned  barbed  weapon  from  the  wound  it 
has  inflicted — the  sting  should  be  carefully  extracted,  if  it 
remains,  by  a  pair  of  tweezers  or  otherwise.  The  best  ap- 
plication to  relieye  the  pain,  and  one  that  is  always  at  hand, 
is  ordinary  mud,  made  quite  wet  and  allowed  to  remain  on 
the  wound  until  dry.  The  irritation  occasioned  by  the 
'^  bite  "  of  a  bug  or  mosquito  may  be  greatly  alleyiated  by 
the  application  of  hartshorn  to  the  place.  This  is  also  use- 
ful for  the  stings  of  bees,  etc. 

A  perfect  preventive  of  the  attacks  of  these  insect  pests 
would  be  a  great  boon  to  humanity.  Many  have  been 
proposed,  and  used  with  more  or  less  success.  Mr.  Daw- 
son Turner  proposes  a  very  simple  one,  which  he  declares 
to  be  absolutely  unfailing,  and  he  certainly  speaks  from 
wide  experience.  *^I  have  traveled,"  he  says,  "in  many 
flea-bitten,  bug-bitten,  and  mosquito-bitten  countries.  In 
Jerusalem,  during  the  height  of  summer,  I  have  seen  my 
bed  pretty  well  alive  with  fleas,  and  have  swept  them  out 
with  my  hands  before  going  to  bed  ;  in  the  excavations  in 
Mount  Moriah,  I  have  seen  my  clothes  pretty  well  covered 
with  them ;  in  Athens  I  have  seen,  at  early  dawn,  the  bugs 
leaving  my  bed,  and  crawling  up  the  bed-posts  by  scores  ; 
and  in  neither  place  was  I  bitten  once. 

"I  adopted,"  he  continues,  "  the  following  preventive, 
formed  on  what  I  had  heard  of  being  done  in  Hungary,  a 
land  much  vexed  in  the  summer-time  by  fleas  and  so  on : 
I  oiled  myself  all  over,  from  head  to  foot,  with  sweet-oil 
(olive-oil).  Eub  the  oil  well  in  with  the  palm  of  your  hand, 
over  the  whole  body,  head,  face,  and  all,  in  a  warm  room, 
and  you  may  (such  is  my  experience,  and  without  this  pre- 
caution I  am  a  martyr  to  fleas)  defy  either  flea,  bug,  or 
mosquito.  It  is  quite  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  oiling 
one's  self  with  sweet-oil  is  a  nasty  operation.  The  oil  sinks 
into  the  skin  at  once,  and  does  not  stain  either  cotton  or 
linen.    The  only  effect  is  that  you  feel  lithe  and  supple,  and 


P0IS021S  AKD  ANTIDOTES,  135 

it  enables  you  to  defy  the  sanguinary  attacks  of  your  crawl- 
ing, creeping,  flying,  and  skipping  enemies." 

VEGETABLE   POISONS. 

The  most  deadly  of  all  poisons  is  pimssic  acid.  It 
is  contained,  in  small  quantities,  in  the  bitter  leaves  of 
many  plants — tea  included.  A  fevf  drops  taken  into  the 
mouth  cause  death  almost  instantaneously.  In  the  con- 
centrated form  it  is  never  found  except  in  the  laboratories 
of  chemists,  though  dilutions  of  it  are  sometimes  used  as 
medicine.  It  exists  in  considerable  quantities  in  the  j)its 
of  peaches  and  plums,  and  especially  in  bitter  almonds. 
Children  sometimes  seriously  poison  themselves  by  eating 
large  quantities  of  these.  The  chief  symptom  of  poisoning 
by  prussic  acid  in  small  quantities  is  a  partial  paralysis. 
The  treatment  is,  to  administer  a  rapid  emetic  to  empty  the 
stomach,  followed  by  friction  of  the  hand,  and  the  applica- 
tion of  ammonia  to  the  nostrils. 

Scarcely  less  dangerous  is  strychnine  (produced  from  the 
nux  vomica,  which  is  sometimes  used  in  medicine).  Strych- 
nine is  often  employed  to  poison  prowling  dogs,  cats,  and 
other  animals  of  which  it  is  desirable  to  get  rid.  Its  taste 
is  so  intensely  bitter  that  the  poison  must  be  hidden  in 
a  piece  of  meat,  so  that  the  animal  will  have  swallowed  it 
before  he  is  aware  of  the  bitter  taste.  The  symptoms  of 
poisoning  by  strychnine  are,  violent  cramps  in  the  stomach 
and  limbs,  twitching  of  the  muscles,  spasm  of  the  throat 
rendering  breathing  difficult,  inability  to  walk  or  stand, 
locked-jaw  in  most  cases,  and  in  fatal  or  very  severe  cases 
the  most  frightful  convulsions.  The  suffering  is  horrible. 
"No  certain  antidote  is  known,  but  strong  green  tea  has  been 
thought  to  be  useful,  and  several  cases  have  been  rej)orted 
cured  by  tea  made  of  tobacco.  Lobelia  would  probably  be 
of  service  also.  The  main  dependence,  however,  must  be 
on  the  prompt  action  of  emetics. 


136  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

Opium,  either  in  its  solid  form  or  in  alcoholic  tincture 
(siicli  as  laudanum  and  paregoric),  or  in  one  of  its  extracts 
(morphine);,  enters  largely  into  medical  practice.  In  one 
or  more  of  its  liquid  forms  (laudanum,  paregoric,  Godfrey's 
cordial,  Bateman's  drops,  soothing-sirup,  etc.,  etc.),  it  has, 
in  too  many  instances,  a  prominent  place  in  household 
medicine,  where  it  should  always  be  "  conspicuous  by  its 
absence."  The  special  characteristic  of  opium-poisoning 
is  the  stupor  which  it  induces.  The  sleep  is  yery  heavy, 
usually  accompanied  by  snoring  and  by  a  puffing  out  of  the 
cheeks  and  lips  as  the  breath  j)asses  through  them.  The 
pupils  of  the  eyes  are  contracted  to  mere  |)oints.  As  in 
other  forms  of  poisoning  by  the  stomach,  the  first  thing  to 
be  done  is  to  induce  free  yomiting,  but  this  is  sometimes 
difficult  or  impossible,  because  the  opium  deadens  the  sen- 
sibility of  the  stomach  and  throat  as  well  as  of  other  parts. 
After  the  yomiting,  or  eyen  if  that  can  not  be  effected,  the 
one  thing  to  be  done  is  to  keep  the  patient  awake  by  any 
means  and  by  all  means.  He  should  be  made  to  drink 
strong  black  coffee,  the  stronger  the  better.  If  necessary, 
he  should  be  beaten,  pinched,  sj)rinkled  with  cold  water ; 
should  be  kept  walking  about,  held  up,  if  need  be,  by  a 
strong  man  at  each  shoulder,  for  several  hours.  He  must 
not  be  allowed  to  go  to  sleej)  until  the  effects  of  the  opium 
have  passed  off.  If  he  falls  asleep,  the  odds  are  great  that 
he  will  never  awake. 

Mushrooms. — When  poisonous  mushrooms  have  been 
eaten,  the  symptoms  sometimes  appear  very  shortly  and 
sometimes  not  for  several  hours.  The  symptoms  also  differ 
considerably  in  different  cases.  In  some  there  are  at  first 
drowsiness,  giddiness,  and  dimness  of  vision,  followed  by 
pain  and  heat  in  the  stomach,  vomiting,  and  purgiug.  In 
others  the  drowsiness  does  not  appear,  but  the  i^ain,  yomit- 
ing, and  purging  are  the  jDrominent  symptoms.  In  all  cases 
there  is  great  debility.     Fainting  frequently  occurs,  and 


POISQJS  AND  ANTIDOTES.  I37 

sometimes  conyulsions  and  delirium.  It  is  not  usually 
difficult,  howeyer,  to  determine  the  cause  of  the  disorder, 
for  the  fact  of  mushrooms  having  been  eaten  will  probably 
be  known,  and  usually  several  persons,  having  eaten  them 
at  the  same  time,  will  be  affected  simultaneously.  The 
drowsiness  produced  by  poisonous  mushrooms  differs  from 
that  of  opium  in  being  accompanied  by  dilated  instead  of 
contracted  pupils.  No  antidote  is  known,  and  the  treat- 
ment should  aim  at  getting  rid  of  the  poisonous  material 
as  speedily  as  possible.  For  this  purpose,  after  the  usual 
emetic,  free  evacuation  of  the  bowels  should  be  encouraged 
by  frequent  doses  of  Epsom  salts  or  Glauber's  salts,  and  by 
the  use  of  large,  stimulating  injections.  If  fainting  or 
very  great  exhaustion  occurs,  small  doses  of  brandy  or 
whisky,  diluted  with  water,  may  be  given. 

Poison-ivy,  wild-parsnip,  and  various  other  plants,  are 
liable,  when  handled,  to  produce  poisonous  effects  on  the 
skin  of  many  people.  Some  persons  are  so  susceptible  to 
their  influence,  that  to  pass  by  where  they  are  growing  is 
sufficient  to  get  the  poisonous  effect.  It  is  said  that  those 
which  are  perennial,  as  the  poison  ivy,  are  more  virulent  in 
spring  or  very  early  summer  than  at  other  seasons.  The  sus- 
ceptibility to  these  poisons  seems  to  increase  by  familiarity 
with  them,  and  it  is  not  uncommon  to  find  persons  who  at 
one  period  of  life  can  handle  the  plants  with  perfect  impun- 
ity, and  at  a  later  period  are  very  readily  poisoned  by  them. 

For  slight  cases  of  this  form  of  poisoning  little  or  no 
treatment  is  necessary.  Cooling  applications,  such  as  lead- 
water  or  baking-soda  dissolved  in  water,  sometimes  afford 
some  relief  from  the  troublesome  itching  and  heat  of  the 
skin.  These  remedies,  however,  although  in  common  use 
for  this  purpose,  are  not  very  efficient,  and  in  all  cases  of 
any  severity  it  is  better  to  use  the  following  prescription, 
which  any  druggist  will  prepare  in  a  few  moments,  and 
which  acts  like  a  specific  in  these  cases  : 


138  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

Take  of  borax,  in  powder^  two  drachms ;  acetate  of 
lead,  in  powder,  one  drachm  ;  tincture  of  lobelia,  two  fluid 
ounces ;  tincture  of  belladonna,  one  fluid  ounce  ;  water, 
sufficient  to  make  one  pint.  Mix.  Write,  ''  Poiso^q-.  For 
external  use  only." 

Cloths  kept  wet  with  this  mixture  should  be  laid  over 
eyery  part  that  is  affected  with  the  poison.  A  cure  will 
generally  be  obtained  in  from  one  to  three  days,  and  yery 
great  relief  commonly  follows  the  first  application.  .  As 
the  remedy  is  a  dangerous  poison  if  swallowed,  it  should 
not,  for  fear  of  accident,  be  kept  in  the  house  except  when 
actually  wanted  for  use,  but  any  portion  remaining  after 
the  patient  recovers  should  be  thrown  out.  This  is  a  proper 
rule  to  observe  in  regard  to  prescriptions  generally. 

In  case  any  of  these  poisonous  plants  have  been  eaten, 
an  emetic  should  be  given  at  once,  as  in  the  case  of  other 
poison  taken  into  the  stomach.  The  after- treatment  will 
be  in  the  hands  of  the  physician. 

MIKEEAL   POISOISrS. 

It  is  to  the  various  mineral  poisons,  almost  exclusively, 
that  there  are  any  known  '^  antidotes,*'  in  the  proper  sense 
of  the  word.  Very  many  minerals  are  poisonous,  both  in 
their  natural  state  and  in  their  various  compounds.  The 
common  metals,  such  as  iron,  copper,  lead,  tin,  and  zinc, 
are  not  poisonous  in  their  metallic  shape,  but  several  com- 
pounds of  all  of  them,  which  are  in  common  use  for  vari- 
ous purposes,  are  highly  poisonous. 

We  shall  enumerate  the  most  common  of  these  poisons 
and  their  antidotes,  and  set  forth  the  general  treatment  to 
be  adopted  in  their  case.  The  reasons  for  the  use  of  the 
several  antidotes,  and  for  the  modes  of  treatment,  need  not 
be  detailed.  The  course  recommended  is  in  every  instance 
such  as  is  prescribed  by  unquestioned  medical  authority. 
It  must  be  premised  that  the  stomach  should  first  of  all  be 


POISONS  AND  ANTIDOTES.  139 

emptied  of  its  contents.  The  stomach-pump  is  the  speedi- 
est and  most  effective  means  of  doing  this,  but,  as  this  will 
not  be  likely  to  be  immediately  at  hand,  recourse  must  be 
had  to  producing  speedy  vomiting  by  the  means  already  de- 
scribed. 

For  arsenic  and  its  various  compounds,  such  as  "  Paris 
green,"  ^'  London  purple,"  ''  Fowler's  solution,"  ^'  Dono- 
van's solution,"  etc.,  the  best  antidote  is  oil  or  melted  fat, 
followed  by  magnesia-water  or  lime-water  in  large  quanti- 
ties, to  be  kept  up  until  vomiting  ensues. 

Antimony  and  its  comjDounds,  including  tartar  emetic, 
require  astringent  drinks,  such  as  a  decoction  of  oak-bark, 
nut-galls,  or  very  strong  green  tea.  Corrosive  sublimate 
(often  used  to  poison  bed-bugs)  and  other  mercurial  poisons 
are  best  treated  by  beating  up  the  whites  of  a  dozen  eggs 
in  two  quarts  of  water,  and  letting  the  patient  swallow  as 
much  as  he  can  every  three  minutes.  Milk  is  the  next 
best  antidote  ;  flour-and-water  may  be  useful ;  and  even 
warm  water  is  better  than  nothing. 

Iodine,  or  iodide  of  potassium,  requires  large  draughts 
of  flour-and-water  or  starch-and-water,  and  afterward  vine- 
gar-and-water.  Lime  and  baryta  require  a  solution  of 
Glauber's  salts,  or  diluted  sulphuric  acid. 

Nitrate  of  silver  (*^ lunar  caustic"),  the  chief  ingredi- 
ent of  *^  indelible  ink,"  and  also  of  most  hair-dyes,  de- 
mands salt  water  to  be  drunk  until  vomiting  ensues. 

Oxalic  acid  (known  as  ^^  salts  of  lemon,"  used  for  re- 
moving ink-stains,  iron-rust,  etc.)  requires  pounded  chalk 
in  water  ;  strong  soap-suds  is  a  tolerable  substitute. 

PhospJiorus  is  sometimes  nibbled  by  children  from  the 
tips  of  matches ;  it  requires  magnesia,  with  copious  drinks 
of  gum-water — gum-arabic,  preferably. 

Potash,  or  lye,  soda,  saleratus,  ammonia,  and  most 
other  alkalies,  may  be  neutralized  in  the  stomach  by  any 
acid,  such  as  vinegar,  lemon-juice,  or  even  tomato-juice ;  or 


140  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

any  non-poisonous  oil;,  sucli  as  castor-oil^  sweet-oil,  linseed- 
oil,  melted  fat  of  any  kind,  etc.,  may  be  used  as  an  antidote. 
The  strong  alkalies  commonly  cause  violent  inflammation  of 
the  throat  and  stomach,  with  partial  destruction  of  their 
lining  membranes,  conditions  that  will  require  special  treat- 
ment after  the  poison  has  been  got  rid  of. 

Co])]}er  forms  several  compounds  of  a  very  poisonous 
nature,  such  as  ^^  verdigris,"  often  used  as  a  green  paint,  and 
"blue  vitriol,"  used  in  dyeing.  Copper  unites  so  readily 
with  acids  that  great  precautions  should  be  taken  in  its  use 
for  household  purposes.  Pickles  and  other  sour  articles 
should  never  be  made  or  kept  in  copper  vessels.  It  is  safer 
not  to  use  any  cooking  utensils  of  copper.  Water,  how- 
ever, may  be  safely  boiled  in  copper  vessels,  provided  they 
are  clean.  The  best  antidotes  for  copper  are  white  of  eggs 
and  milk.    Vinegar  and  other  acids  must  not  be  given. 

Lead  is,  in  its  various  compounds,  one  of  the  most  dan- 
gerous of  metallic  poisons.  From  the  facility  with  which 
it  may  be  drawn  into  pipes,  and  the  ease  with  which  these 
may  be  bent  into  any  form,  it  is  mainly  used  in  plumbing. 
Most  drinking-waters  contain  ingredients,  harmless  in  them- 
selves, but  forming  poisonous  compounds  with  lead.  These 
either  impregnate  the  water  passing  through  the  pipes,  or 
adhere  loosely  in  the  form  of  scales  to  their  sides,  from 
which  any  sudden  jar  detaches  them.  Water-pipes  should 
not  be  made  of  lead  unless  lined  with  tin.  Lead  is  a  con- 
stituent of  many  paints,  such  as  white  lead,  red  lead,  and 
chrome-yellow,  all  very  poisonous.  Lead  is  a  very  insidi- 
ous poison,  since  it  accumulates  in  the  system  for  a  long 
time  until  it  has  attained  a  dangerous  quantity.  Painters 
are  liable  to  a  very  painful  disease  known  as  "  painter's 
colic,"  often  accompanied  by  paralysis.  Lead  also  in  the 
form  of  acetate  of  lead  ("sugar  of  lead")  is  a  leading  in- 
gredient in  various  "hair-colorers,"  claiming  to  be  wholly 
"  vegetable,"  the  frequent  use  of  which  has  been  known  to 


P0I80F8  AND  ANTIDOTES.  141 

•produce  paralysis.  The  glazing  of  earthen  pots  contains  a 
large  proportion  of  lead,  and,  when  glazed  earthenware  is 
used  to  hold  pickles  or  other  acid  articles  of  food,  even  in- 
cluding milk  that  is  allowed  to  stand  until  it  becomes  sour, 
a  dangerous  quantity  of  the  lead  is  dissolved  by  the  acid. 
Many  fatal  cases  of  poisoning  have  occurred  in  this  way. 
The  one  specific  for  lead-poisoning  is  sulphuric  acid,  but 
this  should  always  be  administered  under  the  direction  of  a 
physician.  Other  acids  will  do  harm  instead  of  good,  and 
therefore  domestic  practice  should  be  chiefly  confined  to 
getting  rid  of  the  contents  of  the  stomach  when  it  is  known 
that  any  of  the  poison  is  there,  as  in  cases  where  acid  food 
has  been  eaten  from  glazed  earthen  vessels,  etc.  In  case  a 
physician  is  not  immediately  at  hand,  Epsom  salts  or  Glau- 
ber's salts  may  be  given  as  soon  as  the  emetic  has  acted.  In 
the  cases  of  gradual  poisoning  from  lead  pipes,  hair-dyes, 
etc.,  nothing  is  likely  to  be  gained  by  vomiting,  and  the 
case  will  be  always  in  charge  of  a  physician. 

The  Mineral  Acids. — These  are  strong  corrosive  poisons. 
They  produce  a  burning  sensation  in  the  throat  and  excru- 
ciating pain  in  the  stomach.  "When  swallowed  in  their 
concentrated  form  they  cause  immediate  and  violent  vom- 
iting. The  lining  membrane  of  the  mouth  is  commonly 
white,  sometimes  yellowish  or  brown.  It  is  softened  and 
more  or  less  corrugated,  presenting  the  appearance  of  a 
skin  that  has  been  long  soaked  in  water.  The  abdomen 
swells,  there  are  hiccough  and  eructation  of  gas,  and  blood 
is  often  vomited.  Alkalies  are  the  proper  antidotes  for  all 
these  acids.  In  case  of  nitric  or  oxalic  acid,  the  alkalies  to 
be  chosen,  if  possible,  are  lime  and  magnesia,  the  former 
in  the  form  of  lime-water  or  chalk,  or  the  latter  in  the 
form  of  carbonate  of  magnesia  or  calcined  magnesia.  In 
case  of  sulphuric,  muriatic,  or  almost  any  other  strong  acid, 
lime,  magnesia,  potash,  or  soda  may  be  used,  according  to 
convenience.     Baking-soda  is  very  efficient,  and  usually 


142  EEALTE  AT  SOME. 

close  at  hand.  "Weak  lye,  or  sal-soda  dissolved  in  consider- 
able water,  is  sometimes  available  wheri  other  alkalies  are 
not.  In  the  absence  of  anything  more  suitable,  strong 
soap-suds  may  be  used.  The  caution  already  given  in  re- 
gard to  sulphuric  acid  should  be  remembered,  not  to  give 
water  when  this  has  been  swallowed  in  its  strong  form, 
until  after  it  has  been  vomited. 

Alcohol. — This  substance  does  not  belong,  in  strictness, 
to  any  of  the  three  divisions  named.  It  is  capable,  either  in 
its  pure  state,  or  in  the  form  of  any  distilled  or  fermented 
liquor,  such  as  brandy,  wine,  or  beer,  of  acting  as  a  poison 
when  taken  in  large  quantity.  The  symptoms  of  drunken- 
ness are  unfortunately  familiar  to  all  persons.  When  the 
effects  of  alcohol  pass  beyond  this  stage,  there  is  drowsiness. 
In  severe  cases  this  becomes  a  very  profound  stupor,  similar 
to  that  observed  in  cases  of  opium-poisoning,  except  that 
generally  the  pupils  of  the  eyes  are  dilated.  The  pulse,  at 
first  very  frequent,  usually  becomes  slow  and  feeble.  The 
breathing  is  slow  and  difficult.  Apoplexy  and  paralysis 
sometimes  occur.  Death  may  take  place  from  the  direct 
effect  upon  the  brain,  from  congestion  of  the  lungs,  or  from 
a  stoppage  in  the  throat.  There  is  no  direct  antidote,  and 
the  chief  dependence  must  be  on  emetics.  Their  action 
should  be  encouraged  as  much  as  possible  by  warm  water. 
Large  injections  of  salt  and  water  should  be  thrown  into 
the  bowel.  If  the  face  is  flushed  and  the  head  hot,  the 
head  and  shoulders  should  be  raised  very  high  or  the  patient 
should  be  held  erect,  and  cold  wet  cloths  should  be  applied 
to  the  head  and  frequently  renewed.  The  extremities 
should  be  kept  warm  by  friction  and  artificial  heat  if  neces- 
sary. 


xiy. 
ACCIDENTS  AND  EMERGENCIES. 

A  LAKGE  proportion  of  common  accidents  and  emergen- 
cies will  not  require  treatment  from  the  physician  or  sur- 
geon ;  and,  eyen  in  the  case  of  such  as  do  require  it,  much 
may  usually  be  done  while  awaiting  his  arrival.  Such  of 
these  as  are  likely  to  occur  are  here  arranged  in  alphabeti- 
cal order,  with  their  modes  of  treatment. 

Bleeding  at  tlie  Nose. — Place  the  patient  flat  upon  his 
back,  with  the  arms  stretched  back  to  their  full  length  ; 
unloose  the  neck  coTering  and  apply  wet  cloths  to  the  back 
of  the  neck.  If  the  bleeding  still  continues,  apply  ice  or 
the  coldest  water  that  can  be  had  to  the  back  of  the  neck, 
and  put  into  the  nostril  a  plug  of  cotton  steeped  in  a  strong 
solution  of  alum  and  water  or  well  dusted  with  powdered 
alum.  The  old  prescription  of  a  ^^cold  door-key"  to  the 
spine  is  very  sound,  but  any  other  large  piece  of  cold  metal 
is  just  as  serviceable.  If  the  blood  runs  down  the  throat, 
it  will  be  necessary  to  turn  the  patient  upon  the  side  or 
even  upon  the  stomach,  or  to  support  him  in  a  sitting  pos- 
ture, with  the  head  inclined  slightly  forward. 

Bleeding  from  the  Lungs. — A  celebrated  teacher  of 
medicine,  addressing  a  medical  class  on  this  subject,  said, 
"  For  fear  that  you  may  be  tempted  to  do  something  else, 
hold  the  basin  to  receive  the  blood."  This  means  that, 
while-'  the  haemorrhage  is  active,  very  little  can  be  done  di- 
rectly to  check  it,  and  that  there  is  danger  of  doing  harm 


144  EEALTE  AT  HOME. 

in  efforts  to  relieye.  The  most  important  indication  is  per- 
fect quiet.  The  patient  should  lie  down  and  avoid  speaking 
and  all  unnecessary  motion.  There  should  be  no  bustle  or 
excitement  of  any  kind  in  the  room,  and  only  those  persons 
should  remain  in  or  be  admitted  to  it  who  are  useful  and 
necessary  as  attendants.  It  should  be  remembered  that, 
although  these  cases  appear  yery  frightful,  they  seldom 
involve  any  immediate  danger  to  life.  The  clothing  should 
be  loosened  at  the  neck  and  waist.  Doors  and  windows 
should  be  oj)ened  to  admit  plenty  of  fresh  air.  No  medi- 
cine can  reach  directly  the  seat  of  the  trouble,  and  there- 
fore many  remedies  which  in  other  forms  of  haemorrhage 
are  serviceable  by  coagulating  the  blood  around  the  rup- 
tured blood-vessel  are  of  no  use  here,  and  may  even  add  to 
the  distress  and  danger  by  forming  clots  in  the  throat. 
Salt  has  been  thought  by  some  to  be  beneficial  in  many 
cases,  however,  and  if  the  patient  can  swallow  without 
difficulty  there  is  no  objection  to  its  use.  Or,  he  may 
drink  a  little  cold  water  and  vinegar.  If  the  bleeding  is 
from  the  throat  instead  of  the  lungs,  it  will  be  useful  to 
sip  slowly  a  strong  solution  of  alum  in  cold  water.  In  aU 
cases  a  doctor  should  be  sent  for  at  once. 

Bruises. — Use  warm  fomentations,  flannel  dipped  in 
warm  water  laid  over  the  part,  or  a  bread-and- water  poul- 
tice. A  lotion  of  tincture  of  arnica  and  water — one  part  of 
arnica  to  ten  of  water — is  an  excellent  application. 

Burns  and  Scalds. — Very  slight  burns  and  scalds  re- 
quire only  slight  treatment,  little  more  than  merely  wet- 
ting with  cold  water  or  baking-soda  dissolved  in  water.  A 
very  good  application  when  there  is  considerable  redness 
and  pain  is  composed  of  equal  parts  of  sweet-oil  and  lime- 
water.  Baking-soda  will  answer  in  place  of  lime.  If  a  blis- 
ter forms,  prick  it  just  under  the  skin,  and  just  outside 
the  blister,  so  as  to  let  off  the  water.  The  puffed-up  epi- 
dermis wiU  then  fall  down  into  its  place  ;  do  not  remove  it, 


ACCIDENTS  AND  EMERGENCIES.  145 

but  let  it  remain  until  it  drops  off  itself.  If  the  burn  or 
scald  is  yery  large  or  so  deep  that  the  skin  itself  is  removed, 
apply  a  plaster  of  common  kitchen  whiting  mixed  to  the 
consistency  of  paste  with  oil,  or  eyen  water,  about  an 
eighth  of  an  inch  thick.  Flour  will  answer  instead  of  whit- 
ing, but  not  as  well.  Cover  the  plaster  with  a  piece  of 
cotton  cloth  or  flannel,  and  keep  it  soft  by  the  application 
of  oil  or  water.  Bits  of  rag,  or  a  piece  of  cotton- wool, 
dipped  in  oil,  will  serve  the  same  purpose — that  of  exclud- 
ing the  air,  but  not  as  well.  The  dressing  should  be  re- 
moved only  as  often  as  necessary  to  clean  the  wound  ;  when 
this  has  been  done,  wash  the  surface  with  a  weak  solution 
of  carbolic  acid,  and  apply  a  fresh  dressing.  Be  careful 
not  to  break  the  blister  if  it  can  be  avoided.  If  the  burn 
or  scald  be  very  severe,  involving  a  great  shock  to  the  sys- 
tem, and  especially  if  it  be  internal,  occasioned  by  swallow- 
ing hot  water  or  steam,  it  is  emphatically  a  case  for  the 
doctor. 

Clothing  talcing  Fire. — Above  all  things,  keep  as  cool 
and  collected  as  possible.  Do  not  run,  as  the  motion  only 
fans  the  flame  ;  but  lie  down  on  the  floor,  and  crawl  or 
creep  until  you  can  reach  a  blanket,  woolen  shawl,  or  bit  of 
carpet,  in  which  wrap  yourself  and  thus  smother  the  flames. 
Those  who  are  much  about  an  open  fire  should  wear  wool- 
en clothes  while  so  engaged.  This  should  be  especially  ob- 
served in  the  case  of  young  children. 

Cuts  and  Wounds. — These  frequently  contain  particles 
of  dirt,  shreds  of  clothing,  fragments  of  wood,  glass,  iron, 
etc.  The  first  thing  to  be  done,  in  case  no  large  blood- 
vessel has  been  divided,  is  to  examine  for  such  substances, 
and,  if  any  are  found,  to  remove  them  by  careful  picking 
and  thorough  washing  with  cold  or  tepid  water.  Cold 
water  is  better  if  there  is  much  bleeding.  All  that  is  neces- 
sary beyond  this  is  to  bring  the  edges  nicely  together  and 
fasten  them  so.     For  this  purpose,  if  the  cut  is  a  small  one 


146  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

with  clean  edges  that  do  not  gape  much,  simply  binding  a 
rag  upon  it  is  snflBcient.  If  it  is  larger  and  shows  a  tend- 
ency to  gape,  a  few  narrow  strips  of  sticking-plaster,  ap- 
plied crosswise  of  the  cut,  will  commonly  answer  the  pur- 
pose. These  should  always  be  drawn  very  tightly  across 
the  wound,  to  allow  for  their  stretching  and  for  the  gradual 
slipping  of  the  skin  under  them.  If  a  cut  is  large  and  deep, 
or  if  from  its  position  it  is  difficult  to  retain  the  edges  in 
perfect  contact  by  plaster,  it  will  be  necessary  to  take  one 
or  more  stitches  with  a  needle  and  thread,  but  no  one  who 
is  not  familiar  with  this  operation  should  undertake  it. 

Applications  of  tobacco,  spirit,  arnica,  liniment,  etc., 
should  never  be  made  to  a  fresh  cut.  They  all  irritate, 
and  lessen  the  chance  of  healing  without  a  scar.  If  the 
edges  are  rough  and  jagged,  and  especially  if  the  part  is 
much  bruised,  neither  x^laster  nor  stitches  will  be  likely  to 
hold  the  wound  together,  but  there  will  be  more  or  less  sup- 
puration (formation  of  matter)  before  healing  takes  place. 
In  such  cases  a  little  carbolic  ointment  may  be  a23plied,  or 
a  poultice  of  bread  and  milk  or  linseed-meal  may  be  useful 
to  encourage  the  suppuration  and  keep  the  part  from  be- 
coming dry  and  painful.  But  such  cases  should  be  treated 
by  a  physician.  If  pus  (matter)  forms  in  any  wound  that 
is  closed  by  plaster  or  stitches,  these  must  be  at  once  re- 
moved sufficiently  to  give  free  drainage. 

"When  bleeding  is  troublesome,  if  no  large  blood-vessel 
has  been  severed  or  punctured,  the  bleeding  may  generally 
be  most  effectually  stanched  by  laying  a  cobweb  over  the 
wound.  The  blood  will  coagulate  in  the  meshes  of  the  cob- 
web, and  form  an  air-tight  covering,  or  scab,  under  which 
the  wound  will  heal  nicely ;  do  not  remove  this  scab,  but 
let  it  remain  until  it  drops  off  itself. 

But  if  a  large  blood-vessel,  especially  an  artery,  has  been 
cut  or  pierced,  the  case  becomes  a  serious  one,  and  not  a 
moment  should  be  lost.     It  may  be  readily  ascertained 


ACCIDENTS  AND  EMERGENCIES.  147 

whether  the  flow  is  from  a  large  vein  or  from  a  large  artery. 
Venous  blood  is  of  a  dark,  purplish  color,  and  comes  out  in  a 
continuous  spurt  or  stream.  All  that  in  this  case  will  be  im- 
mediately necessary  may  be  to  put  a  plug  of  lint — if  possi- 
ble steeped  in  a  solution  of  tannic  acid  or  other  astringent — 
into  the  wound,  and  bandage  it  tightly  and  strongly.  Arte- 
rial blood  is  of  a  bright  red,  and  comes  out  in  jerks.  If  it 
be  an  artery  that  has  been  wounded,  it  is  well  that  some 
one  should  press  his  thumb  or  finger  strongly  upon  the  ar- 
tery just  aboye  the  wound,  so  as  at  least  to  check  the  flow 
of  blood.  As  soon  as  it  can  be  done,  tie  a  handkerchief, 
or  some  other  stout  bandage,  above  the  wound  (supposing  it 
to  be  in  an  arm  or  leg),  that  is,  between  the  wound  and  the 
body,  insert  a  stick  between  the  knot  and  the  limb,  and  twist 
this  around  until  the  bandage  is  tight  enough  to  compress 
the  limb  so  as  to  completely  stop  the  flow  of  blood.  Then, 
after  washing  the  blood  from  the  wound,  apply  a  thick 
pad,  securing  it  by  a  bandage.  The  pad  should  be  com- 
posed of  layers  of  lint,  muslin,  or  linen,  the  smallest  next  to 
the  wound,  each  succeeding  layer  being  somewhat  larger 
than  the  one  below  it,  until  the  pad  is  an  inch  thick  over 
the  wound.  When  the  surgeon  comes,  he  will  replace  the 
twisted  handkerchief  by  a  regular  tourniquet. 

Drowning. — The  time  during  which  a  person  can  re- 
main under  water,  without  being  absolutely  drowned,  is 
somewhat  uncertain.  "Within  very  narrow  limits  —  not 
more  than  a  few  minutes  at  most — it  varies  with  different 
individuals.  But  persons  apparently  drowned,  in  whom 
there  was  no  visible  sign  of  life,  have  been  resuscitated 
after  a  much  longer  period— several  hours  in  some  well-au- 
thenticated cases.  When  a  person,  apparently  drowned,  is 
brought  to  the  shore,  the  first  thing  to  be  done  is  to  strip 
off  his  wet  garments,  replace  them  by  dry  ones,  wrap  the 
body  in  warm  blankets,  place  bottles  of  hot  water  under 
the  arm-pits,  at  the  calves  of  the  legs,  and  at  the  soles  of 


148  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

the  feet ;  keep  up  a  constant  rubbing,  especially  of  tbe 
hands  and  feet,  with  the  warm  hand  and  hot  flannels.* 

Meanwhile,  and  as  soon  as  possible,  persistent  efforts 
should  be  made  to  bring  the  lungs  to  the  exercise  of  their 
natural  function  of  breathing.  This  is  the  essential  thing, 
without  which  eyerything  else  will  be  of  no  ayail.  Lay  the 
body  face  downward,  with  one  arm  under  the  forehead,  to 
facilitate  the  discharge  of  any  water  that  may  have  been 
swallowed.  The  old  methods  of  holding  the  body  uj)  by  the 
feet,  and  rolling  it  upon  a  barrel,  are  wholly  inadmissible  ; 
they  would  be  quite  sufficient  to  kill  a  well  person,  to  say 
nothing  of  one  who  at  the  best  is  just  hovering  between  life 
and  death.  To  start  the  action  of  the  lungs.  Dr.  Marshall 
Hall  directs  that,  as  soon  as  the  water  has  been  discharged, 
pressure  should  be  made  along  the  spine  in  order  to  expel 
the  air  from  the  lungs ;  then  turn  the  body  almost  over 
upon  its  back,  keeping  the  mouth  open  so  that  the  air  will 
rush  in  to  fill  the  vacuum  ]3roduced  in  the  lungs  ;  then  turn 
the  body  back  upon  the  face,  and  then  again  u|)on  the  back, 
pressing  upon  the  spine  as  before,  and  repeating  the  whole 
operation  every  three  or  four  minutes.  Or,  as  suggested  by 
Dr.  Sylvester,  stand  behind  the  head,  the  body  still  upon  the 
face  ;  take  its  two  arms,  draw  them  sharply  up  above  the 
head,  so  as  to  put  the  muscles  on  the  stretch  and  draw  the 
ribs  apart ;  then  press  down  the  elbows  against  the  sides,  thus 
making  the  air  enter  and  again  come  out,  and  so  imitating 
the  natural  process  of  breathing.  Do  this  slowly  and  stead- 
ily, about  twenty  times  a  minute.  Both  methods  may  be 
used  alternately,  each  for  some  little  time.  Bellows  have 
sometimes  been  used  for  the  inflation  of  the  lungs,  but  this 
is  open  to  grave  objections.  The  nostrils  may  be  occasion- 
ally tickled  with  a  feather,  or  hartshorn  or  snuff  may  be 

■^  Some  authorities  say  that  heat  should  not  be  employed  at  all,  but 
that  the  body  should  be  kept  cold,  and  in  a  cool  place.  But  the  weight  of 
authority  is  altogether  in  favor  of  the  employment  of  heat,  as  above. 


ACCIDENTS  AND  EMERGENCIES,  149 

applied  to  tliem.     Do  not  abandon  all  hope  for  at  least  four 
hours. 

Eye,  Ear,  Nose,  and  Throat,  Foreign  Substances  in. — 
Do  not  attempt  to  remove  any  dust,  coal-ash,  clinker,  etc., 
which  may  have  entered  the  eye,  by  rubbing  it ;  you  will 
probably,  if  it  is  a  hard  body,  force  it  still  more  deeply  into 
the  soft  external  coatings  of  the  eye.  Close  the  lid  at  once  ; 
then  take  hold  of  the  upper  eyelashes,  or  get  some  one  to  do 
it  for  you  ;  draw  them  forward,  so  as  to  drag  the  lid  from  the 
eye,  and  if  the  substance  be  not  a  sharp  one,  a  flow  of  fluid 
from  under  the  lid  will  probably  wash  it  away.  A  very  good 
way  is  to  souse  the  face  in  a  basin  of  lukewarm  water,  re- 
peatedly opening  and  shutting  the  eyes ;  quite  probably, 
the  substance,  if  it  be  not  a  hard  one,  and  imbedded  in  the 
eye,  will  be  washed  out ;  but  if  you  have  reason  to  suppose 
that  it  is  a  bit  of  lime,  do  not  wash  the  eye  at  all  with 
water;  but  use  instead  a  weak  mixture  of  vinegar  and 
water.  If  neither  of  these  procedures  is  successful,  get  some 
one  to  take  hold  of  the  upper  eyelashes,  open  the  lid  and 
search  closely  for  the  intruder  ;  if  it  is  not  discovered  there, 
let  him  in  like  manner  try  the  lower  lid.  If  the  substance 
is  found,  let  him  gently  brush  it  away  with  a  camers-hair 
pencil  or  the  feather  of  a  quill ;  or,  if  that  be  not  stiff 
enough,  use  a  small,  smooth  bit  of  soft  wood.  If  he  does 
not  succeed,  go  to  the  doctor  or  an  oculist.  If  there  be 
painful  inflammation  after  the  removal  of  the  substance, 
the  best  thing  is  to  drop  a  little  castor-oil  or  olive-oil  into 
the  eye. 

Insects  of  various  kinds  occasionally  creep  into  the  ear, 
causing  serious  annoyance  and  pain,  and  sometimes  endan- 
gering the  sense  of  hearing.  The  best  way  to  deal  with 
such  an  intruder  is  to  turn  the  head  over  on  the  opposite 
side  and  fill  the  ear  with  oil.  Frequently  this  will  dislodge 
the  insect  at  once^  and,  if  not,  will  prevent  it  from  doing 
any  harm. 


150  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

Children  sometimes  thrust  small  objects  into  the  ear  or 
nose.  If  these  are  pointed^,  angular,  or  irregular  in  shape, 
like  bits  of  wood,  there  is  generally  not  much  difficulty  in 
extracting  them  with  a  pair  of  small  forceps  or  tweezers. 
Eound  bodies,  however,  such  as  buttons,  cherry-stones,  and 
pebbles,  are  often  yery  difficult  to  remove.  In  such  a  case 
great  care  must  be  taken  not  to  force  the  object  farther  in 
by  the  efforts  to  dislodge  it,  especially  if  it  is  in  the  ear,  as 
it  might  readily  produce  permanent  deafness  by  being 
pushed  through  the  tympanum.  It  is  better,  if  the  body  can 
not  readily  be  removed,  to  leave  it  until  a  physician  can 
attend  to  it,  or  even  until  it  becomes  loosened  and  comes 
away  of  itself.  Sometimes  such  a  body  in  the  nostril  can 
be  dislodged  by  blowing  the  nose,  the  other  nostril  being 
closed  ;  or  it  may  sometimes  be  pushed  back  so  as  to  come 
out  through  the  mouth,  but  only  a  physician  should  at- 
tempt the  latter  procedure. 

In  case  of  a  bone  or  other  hard  substance  lodging  in  the 
throat,  it  will  commonly  excite  coughing,  which  should 
be  encouraged  with  a  view  of  dislodging  it.  If  this  fails, 
sometimes  another  person  may  be  able  to  see  and  remove  it 
through  the  mouth.  If  it  is  a  small  object,  such  as  a  fish- 
bone, and  can  not  be  so  removed,  it  may  perhaps  be  carried 
down  into  the  stomach  by  swallowing  a  mouthful  of  bread- 
crumb, or  it  may  be  pushed  down  with  the  finger.  Some- 
times such  a  body  is  drawn  into  the  windpipe,  where  its 
presence  may  be  known  by  continued  obstruction  to  breath- 
ing and  frequent  frightful  attacks  of  coughing  and  gasping 
for  breath.  In  every  such  case  the  patient  should  lie  down 
and  keep  as  quiet  as  possible  until  the  arrival  of  a  surgeon 
who  should  be  sent  for  at  once. 

If  pins  or  other  small,  pointed  bodies  have  been  swal- 
lowed, there  is  nothing  to  do  but  to  wait  the  result.  In  most 
cases  they  do  no  harm,  but,  if  they  do,  there  is  no  means  of 
preventing  it.    Emetics  and  cathai'tics  sliould  not  be  given. 


ACCIDENTS  AND  EMERGENCIES.  151 

Fainting, — Lay  the  person  flat  on  the  back,  and  do  not 
raise  the  head.  Loosen  the  clothing  at  the  neck  and  waist. 
Have  as  much  fresh  air  as  possible,  and  prevent  people  from 
crowding  around.  Apply  ammonia,  smelling-salts,  or  some 
other  pungent  substance  to  the  nostrils.  Sprinkle  the  face, 
and,  if  needful,  the  neck  and  chest,  with  cold  water.  For 
slight  faintness,  put  the  person  in  a  chair,  bend  down  his 
head  until  it  is  nearly  on  a  level  with  the  pit  of  his  stom- 
ach, and  the  sensation  of  faintness  will  probably  pass  off  in 
a  few  seconds. 

Fits. — When  a  paroxysm  seems  to  be  coming  on,  it 
may  often  be  warded  off  by  placing  a  smelling-bottle  to  the 
nose.  If  it  does  occur,  unloose  the  clothing  of  the  neck 
and  chest,  and  take  off  the  shoes  ;  give  as  much  air  as  pos- 
sible, and  bathe  the  forehead  with  cold  water.  To  prevent 
the  tongue  from  being  bitten,  place  a  large  cork  or  piece  of 
wood  wrapped  with  several  folds  of  cloth  between  the  teeth. 
Put  the  feet  into  hot  water,  and  apply  a  strong  mustard- 
poultice  to  the  back  of  the  neck.  Put  the  patient  to  bed 
as  soon  as  possible.  During  the  convulsions  do  not  hold 
the  limbs  tight ;  restrain,  but  do  not  violently  oppose  his 
struggles.  After  the  fit  has  passed  away,  the  diet  should 
be  of  the  very  lightest — ^beef-tea,  toast,  rice,  chicken-broth, 
milk,  tea,  and  the  like. 

Falls  of  Young  Children. — Some  one  has  said  that  it 
is  a  providential  arrangement  that  babies'  heads  are  large, 
heavy,  and  soft,  to  serve  as  cushions  for  their  frequent 
falls.  Infants,  in  falling,  commonly  strike  the  head  first, 
and  it  is  a  fact  that  when  they  do  so  strike  they  are  rarely 
seriously  hurt,  because  the  bones  of  the  head  are  not  firmly 
united,  and  the  brain  thus  has  s]3ace  in  which  it  can  adapt 
itself  to  pressure.  The  bones  and  joints  throughout  the 
bodies  of  young  children,  however,  from  their  soft  and  im- 
perfect condition  are  peculiarly  liable  to  injury.  When  a 
young  child  falls  upon  its  head,  therefore,  if  it  cries  lustily 


152  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

and  there  is  no  appearance  of  great  injury,  little  concern 
need  usually  be  felt ;  but,  if  it  falls  beayily  ujDon  its  back, 
shoulder,  or  hip,  it  should  be  examined  carefully  to  ascer- 
tain the  exact  extent  of  the  injury,  and  if,  after  a  few  hours, 
any  soreness  remains  in  a  joint  thus  injured,  the  child 
should  be  placed  in  the  care  of  a  physician,  otherwise  a 
crooked  back  or  a  deformed  shoulder  or  hip  may  be  the 
life-long  penalty. 

Fractures  and  Dislocations. — A  fracture  is  a  break  of 
any  kind  in  a  bone.  A  dislocation  is  the  slipping  of  a  bone 
out  of  joint.  A  fracture  may  occur  close  to  a  joint,  and 
there  is  often  difficulty  in  distinguishing  between  such  a 
fracture  and  a  dislocation.  As  a  rule,  in  case  of  a  fracture, 
the  part  admits  of  freer  motion  than  is  natural,  and  in  case 
of  a  dislocation  there  is  commonly  much  less  motion  than 
is  natural.  Frequently  the  projection  of  the  ends  may  be 
seen  or  felt  through  the  skin,  and  these  by  their  form  and 
position  may  determine  the  character  of  the  accident.  The 
injured  limb  should  be  carefully  compared  with  the  corre- 
sponding one  on  the  other  side,  in  order  that  any  differ- 
ences may  be  observed.  In  either  accident  the  limb  is 
liable  to  be  shortened,  though  this  does  not  always  occur, 
and  in  a  few  cases  of  dislocation  it  may  be  lengthened. 
When  a  fractured  bone  is  moved,  the  fingers  being  clasped 
closely  over  it,  a  peculiar  grating  or  rasping  may  often  be 
felt  by  the  examiner.  In  a  few  cases,  owing  to  the  swell- 
ing of  the  part  or  to  other  circumstances,  it  is  impossible 
for  the  most  skillful  surgeon  to  determine  whether  a  frac- 
ture or  a  dislocation  has  or  has  not  occurred. 

In  every  case  where  either  of  these  injuries  is  known  or 
suspected,  a  physician  should  see  it  at  the  earliest  possible 
moment,  for,  although  in  many  cases  a  few  hours  more  or 
less  will  make  no  difference  in  the  results,  there  is  always 
danger  that  swelling  may  occur  to  such  an  extent  as  to 
hide  the  real  nature  of  the  injury,  and  to  make  its  treatment 


ACCIDENTS  AND  EMERGENCIES.  153 

difficult  and  unsatisfactory.  No  one  except  a  thoroughly 
qualified  physician  should  attempt  to  treat  any  such  injury. 
If  a  bone  of  a  finger  or  hand,  or  one  of  the  bones  of  the 
fore-arm,  only,  has  been  broken,  or  if  there  is  a  dislocation 
in  the  upper  extremity  not  higher  than  the  elbow,  the 
patient  may  go  to  the  doctor  if  that  is  preferred,  the  arm 
being  supported  by  a  sling.  Otherwise  the  doctor  must 
come  to  the  patient.  In  fractures  other  than  those  men- 
tioned, the  patient  should  be  laid  on  a  hard  bed,  in  a  posi- 
tion the  most  easy  for  him,  which  will  depend  upon  what 
bone  is  fractured.  If  an  arm  is  broken,  whether  above  or 
below  the  elbow,  it  rests  most  easily  half  bent  upon  a 
pillow ;  if  a  leg,  it  rests  best  upon  the  outer  side,  with  the 
knee  bent. 

Frost-Bites.  — First  and  chiefly,  do  not  approach  a  fire 
or  enter  a  warm  room.  If  snow  is  to  be  had,  keep  it  con- 
stantly applied  to  the  frozen  member ;  if  snow  can  not  be 
had,  use  cloths  wet  with  cold  water,  and  thus  thaw  out  the 
frozen  part  gradually.  A  member  frozen  stiff,  and  quickly 
thawed  out,  is  almost  sure  to  gangrene  and  drop  ©ff.  The 
ears,  tip  of  the  nose,  fingers,  and  toes  are  the  parts  most 
liable  to  be  frost-bitten. 

Sprains, — If  an  arm  or  hand  be  badly  sprained,  do  not 
try  to  use  it ;  if  a  knee  or  foot,  do  not  walk  upon  it.  Lie 
down  and  get  some  one  to  pour  water,  as  hot  as  can  be 
borne  without  discomfort,  oyer  the  sprain  steadily  for  half 
an  hour  or  until  the  pain  and  soreness  haye  disappeared. 
The  part  will  still  be  weak,  and  should  be  used  with  much 
caution,  if  at  all,  for  some  weeks  or  eyen  months.  A  bad 
sprain  is  often  more  tedious  than  an  ordinary  fracture. 

Sunstrohe. — This  is  caused  by  exposure  to  great  heat, 
either  from  the  sun  or  from  some  other  source.  Cases  not 
unfrequently  occur  in  hotel  -  kitchens,  sugar  -  refineries, 
foundries,  and  other  places  where  there  is  great  heat  but 
no  exposure  to  the  sun.     The  greater  number  of  cases. 


154  HEALTH  AT  HOME. 

however,  are  caused  apparently  by  the  direct  heat  of  the 
sun.  Exhaustion,  especially  when  induced  by  severe  mus- 
cular exercise  and  mental  anxiety,  is  a  powerful  predispos- 
ing cause,  and  it  is  said  that  the  use  of  stimulants  operates 
in  the  same  direction. 

By  way  of  precaution  one  should  avoid  exposure  to  the 
direct  rays  of  the  sun  on  a  very  hot  day.  A  straw  or 
ventilated  felt  hat,  with  a  wide  brim,  should  be  worn,  and 
it  is  well  to  put  a  wet  handkerchief  or  sponge  or  a  cabbage- 
leaf  in  the  crown.  If  one's  occupation  will  admit  it,  when 
much  in  the  sun  an  umbrella  should  be  carried,  for  the  ill 
effects  of  the  heat  may  be  received  through  the  body  as  well 
as  through  the  head,  though  probably  not  quite  so  readily. 
Or,  a  piece  of  white  cloth  or  handkerchief  may  hang  down 
from  the  hat  to  cover  the  nape  of  the  neck  and  protect  the 
spinal  cord.  If  possible,  one  should  avoid  exposure  di- 
rectly after  dinner,  as  this  is  the  most  frequent  time  for  an 
attack. 

In  some  cases  the  ajoparent  attack  will  not  come  on 
until  some  time  after  the  injury  has  really  been  inflicted. 
It  may  come  on  in  the  night,  but  this  is  exceptional. 

The  symptoms  of  sunstroke  are  sudden  and  violent  pain 
in  the  head,  giddiness,  a  sense  of  fullness  and  oppression 
in  the  pit  of  the  stomach,  sometimes  with  nausea  and  vom- 
iting, a  feeling  of  weakness,  dimness  of  vision  and  confu- 
sion of  colors,  quickly  followed  by  more  or  less  complete 
insensibility.  Sometimes  there  are  convulsions.  The  heat 
of  the  body  is  generally  much  increased.  The  breathing 
sometimes  has  a  snoring  sound,  at  other  times  it  is  sighing 
and  accompanied  by  moaning. 

The  patient  should  be  at  once  removed  to  the  coolest 
place  that  is  near  at  hand,  and  in  which  there  is  plenty  of 
pure  air,  but  sliould  not  he  carried  far  ;  the  clothing  should 
be  taken  off  and  the  body  sponged  with  cold  water,  if  pos- 
sible with  ice-water,  unless  the  surface  is  already  cool,  when 


ACCIDENTS  AND  EMERGENCIES.  155 

warm  water  may  be  used.  If  the  lieat  of  the  body  is  very 
great,  the  j)ulse  slow  and  full,  the  temples  throbbing,  the 
breathing  snoring,  sighing,  or  moaning,  with  profound 
unconsciousness,  there  is  no  time  to  be  lost  in  the  use  of 
more  active  measures.  The  patient  being  turned  upon  the 
face,  the  head  and  shoulders  should  be  somewhat  raised, 
and  cold  water  should  be  poured  upon  the  head  and  upper 
part  of  the  spine  from  a  height  of  three  or  four  feet,  in  a 
continuous  stream  for  several  minutes,  taking  care,  of  course, 
that  the  nose  and  mouth  are  so  j)laced  that  breathing  will 
not  be  interfered  with.  If,  on  the  contrary,  with  the  un- 
consciousness, the  pulse  is  very  frequent  and  feeble,  the 
breathing  free  from  the  characters  mentioned,  and  the  sur- 
face of  *the  body  cool,  the  treatment  just  described  would 
be  very  dangerous,  and  instead  of  it  a  stimulating  plan 
must  be  pursued,  small  doses  of  brandy  or  whisky  and 
water  being  given  by  the  mouth  if  they  can  be  swallowed 
and  do  not  excite  vomiting,  or,  what  is  much  better,  if  a 
syringe  is  at  hand,  being  injected  into  the  bowel.  At  the 
same  time  a  blister  or  mustard-plaster  may  be  applied  to 
the  nape  of  the  neck.  In  all  cases  the  nearest  physician 
should  be  summoned  at  once. 

Cases  that  recover  generally  do  so  quite  rapidly  after 
the  improvement  begins,  but  it  is  best  that  they  should  lie 
perfectly  quiet  and  undisturbed,  in  a  darkened  and  well- 
ventilated  room  for  a  day  or  two.- 

f 

THE  ^^-D^^'Ty  ..^^^J^ 


<h^ 


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English  as  She  is  Spoke; 

Or,  A  Jest  ix  Sober  Earnest.  Compiled  from  the  celebrated  "Xew 
Guide  of  Conversation  in  Portuguese  and  English." 

"  '  We  expect  then,  who  the  little  book  (for  the  care  what  we  vrrote  blm,  and 
for  her  typo2:raphical  correction)  thai  may  be  worth  the  acceptation  of  the  stu- 
dious persons,  and  especially  of  the  yontli,  at  which  we  deoicate  him  particu- 
larly.' This  is  a  literal  quotation  trom  the  preface  of  one  of  the  most  excru- 
ciatingly fimny  little  booKS  that  bas  ever  been  given  to  the  world,  'The  Isew 
Guide  of  Conversation  in  Portuguese  and  English.'  Copies  of  the  original 
edition  are  treasure-trove.  The  author  was  Sen:or  Pedro  Carolino,  who  wrote 
with  serious  purpose  this  little  book,  compiling  it  with  the  aid  of  a  Portuguese- 
French  phrase-book  and  a  Prench-Ensrlish  dictionary.  The  result  is  like  what 
we  have  quoted  above.  The  present  book  is  not  a  reprint,  but  is  a  collection  of 
the  most  ludicrous  passages  in  the  original,  comprising  vocabularies,  conversa- 
tions, familiar  dialogues,  idiotisms,  and^'proverbs."— J\'ei^'  York  Christian  Urdon. 

Don't; 

A  Manual  of  Mistakes  and  Improprieties  more  or  less  preta- 
LENT  IN  Conduct  and  Speech. 

"I'll  view  the  manners  of  the  town."— Come^fy  of  Errors. 
By  Censor.     Eevised,  and  with  a  new  chapter  addressed  expressly 
to  women. 

"In  a  condensed  form,  this  little  volume  gives  a  great  variety  of  useful  hints 
upon  the  behavior  appropriate  at  the  table,  in  the  drawing-room,  in  public,  in 
speech,  in  dress,  and  in  general.  This  work  has  been  prepared  by  some  one 
who  has  a  keen  eve  and  ear;  he  appears  anonymously,  but  his  instincts  are  vca.- 
erring.''''— School  Journal. 

"Finally,  we  would  add  on  our  own  account.  'Don't  fail  to  read.  mark,  learn, 
and  inwardly  dijest  this  littla  book,  if  you  would  like  to  remind  yourself  of  some 
of  the  things  which  denote  the  trire  spirit  of  good  breeding.'  " — 17ie  Literary 
World. 

"Unlike  most  books  of  the  kind,  it  bears  internal  evidence  of  having  been 
written  by  a  gentleman,  and  not  by  a  '  dude'  or  bis  valet.  The  common  sense 
of  etiquette  was  never  batter  exemplified." — Bodon  Pilot. 

''  If  you  read  this  little  book — and  it  is  so  very  interesting,  not  alone  on  ac- 
count of  its  subject,  but  because  attractively  printed,  that  you  will  besure  to  do 
60 — and  if  you  remember  what  it  says,  the  recording  scribe  of  the  habits  of  good 
society  will  never  enter  a  charge  against  you  of  a^serious  violation  of  any  im- 
portant rule  of  good  breeding.  This  excellent  little  manual  will  benefit  almost 
every  one."— .Boston,  Globe. 

in. 

English  as  She  is  Wrote: 

Showing  curious  "ways  in  which  the  English  language  may  be 
MADE  TO  convey  IDEAS  OR  OBSCURE  THEM.  A  Companion  to  "Eng- 
lish as  She  is  Spoke." 

"A  companion  to  'English  as  She  is  Spoke.'  and  hardly  less  funny  than  that 
celebrated  Portuguese-English  production." — Philadelphia  Kews. 


Kew  York :  D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  1,  3,  &  5  Bond  Street. 


APPLETONS'   HOME  BOOKS. 


A  Series  of  New  Hand-  Volu??ies  at  low  price ^  devoted  to  all 
Subjects  pertaining  to  Home  and  the  Household. 


Handsomely  printed,  and  bound  in  cloth,  flexible,  with  illuminated  design.    12mo. 
60  cents  each. 

Building  a  Home. 

By  A.  F.  Oakey.     Illustrated. 

"  Mr.  Oakey  discusses  house-building  for  the  purposes  of  people  of  moderate  means 
in  the  Middle  States,  and  gives  plans  and  elevations  of  cottages  from  the  very  cheapest 
to  a  house  to  be  built  at  a  cost  of  $9,000.  The  conditions  of  building,  with  reference 
to  the  climate  and  material,  are  fully  set  forth,  and  the  class  of  readers  whom  the  book 
contemplates  will  find  it  of  advantage." — ISiew  York  Wor'ld. 

How  to  Furnish  a  Home. 

By  Ella  Rodman  Church.     Illustrated. 

"Mrs.  Church's  directions  for  house-furnishing,  while  very  artistic  and  cheerful,  are 
adapted  to  the  wants  of  the  great  army  of  limited  incomes.  The  chapters  wend  their 
way  from  vestibule,  hall,  and  staircase,  the 'living-rooms,'  kitchen,  parlor,  library,  and 
dining-room,  and  bedrooms,  up  to  the  servants'  quarters,  for  which  last  the  sugges- 
tions are  particularly  apt.  What  may  be  done  in  the  way  of  home  decoration  and  up- 
holstery is  pointed  out,  with  advice  on  the  finishing  touches  that  so  often  go  to  make 
a  house  a  home.''''— Fhiladelphia  Ledger. 

The  Home  Garden. 

By  Ella  Rodman  Chukch.     Illustrated. 

"We  have  instructions  for  gardening  and  flower-raising,  in  door  and  out.  Eoses 
and  lilies  have  separate  chapters,  and  there  is  much  valuable  information  about  fern- 
eries, city  gardens,  miniature  greenhouses,  and  methols  of  utilizing  small  spaces  for 
vegetable-raising." — Albany  Argus, 

Home  Grounds. 

By  A.  F.  Oakey.     Illustrated. 
"  In  '  Home  Grounds,'  Alexander  F.  Oakey  tells,  in  a  very  suggestive  way,  how  the 
surroundings  of  a  suburban  home  may  be  made  beautiful  at  comparatively  little  ex- 
pense.''''—C/iristian  at  Work. 

Amenities  of  Home. 

By  M.  E.  W.  S. 

"  The  author  has  not  spared  good  sense,  right  feeling,  or  sound  principle.  ...  A 
better  book  for  reading  in  the  family  circle  it  would  be  hard  to  name." — Literary 
World. 

'•  Old  rules  for  happy  homes  are  made  to  appear  fresh ;  indeed,  vivacity  is  the 
marked  trait  of  the  book." — Boston  Advertiser. 

Household  Hints; 

A  Book  of  Home  Receipts  and  Home  Suggestions.     By  Mrs.  Emma  W. 

Babcock. 

"The  author  has  evidently  been  used  to  the  nice  economics  of  Ufe,  and  her  experi- 
ence is  of  more  than  ordinary  value.  The  book  is  not  entirely  given  up  to  culinary 
items  ;  there  are  talks  on  various  subjects  that  occupy  nearly  half  its  pages,  and  the  in- 
troduction is  full  of  sound  advice  and  happy  suggestions  on  making  and  ordering  a 
pleasant  home,  that  shall  have  a  '  certain  physiognomy  of  its  own.'  ''''—Boston  Courier. 


APPLETONS'  HOME  BOOKS.— {Continued.) 


Home  Decoration: 

Instructions  in  and  Designs  for  Embroidery,  Panel  and  Decorative  Paint- 
ings, Wood-carving,  etc.     By  Janet  E.  Ruutz-Rees,  author  of 
"  Horace  Vernet,"  etc.     With  numerous  Designs,  mainly 
by  George  Gibson. 

Contents:  I.  Introductory;  II.  General  Remarks ;  III.  Materials  and  Prices ;  IV. 
Stitches  and  Methods ;  V.  Window-Hangings  and  Portieres ;  VI.  Screens ;  VII.  Lam- 
brequins and  Small  Panels;  VIII.  Incidental  Decorations ;  IX.  Wood-carding. 

Home  Amusements. 

By  M.  E.  W.  S.,  author  of  "  Amenities  of  Home,"  etc. 

Contents:  T.  Prefatory;  II.  The  Garret;  III.  Private  Theatricals,  etc. ;  IV.  Ta- 
bleaux Vivants ;  V.  hrain  Games;  VI.  Fortune-Telling;  VII.  Amusements  for  a  Eainy 
Day;  VIII.  Embroidery  and  other  Decorative  Arts:  IX.  Etching;  X.  Lavrn  Tennis; 
XI.  Garden  Parties;  XII.  Dancing;  XIII.  Gardens  and  Flower-Stands;  XIV.  Caged 
Birds  and  Aviaries;  XV.  Picnics;  XVI.  Playing  with  Fire.  Ceramics  ;  XVII.  Arch- 
ery; XVIII.  Amusements  for  the  Middle-Aged  and  the  Aged;  XIX.  The  Parlor; 
XX.  The  Kitchen  ;  XXI.  The  Family  Horse  and  other  Pets;  XXII.  In  Conclusion. 

The  Home  Needle. 

By  Ella  Rodman  Church.     Illustrated. 

Contents:  I.  "Go  Teach  the  Orphan-Girl  to  Sew";  IT.  Beginning  Eight— Under^ 
Garments:  III.  Under- Garments— (Continued);  IV.  "The  Song  of  the  Shirt";  V. 
Eudiments  of  Dress-making;  VI.  Dress  making  in  Detail;  VII.  Sewing  and  Finish- 
ing; VIII.  The  Milliners  Art;  IX.  Children's  Garments;  X.  House-Linen;  XI. 
The  Mending  Basket;  XII.  A  Patchwork  Chapter. 

Home  Occupations. 

By  Janet  E.  Ruutz-Rees.     Hlustrated. 

Contents:  I.  Introductory;  II.  What  can  he  Done  with  Leather;  III.  The  Possi- 
bilities of  Tissue- Paper;  IV.  Modeling  in  Wax:  Flowers;  V.  Modeling  in  Wax: 
Fruits,  etc.;  VI.  The  Preservation  of  Flowers  and  Grasses;  VII.  Spatter- Work ; 
VIII.  Frame-Making:  IX.  Collections;  X.  Making  Scrap-Books;  XI.  The  Uses  of 
Card-Board;  XII.  What  can  be  Done  with  Beads;  XIII.  Amateur  Photography; 
XIV.  Miscellaneous  Occupations. 

The  Home  Library. 

By  Arthur  Penn,  editor  of  "  The  Rhymester."     Hlustrated. 

Contents  :  I.  A  Plea  for  the  Best  Books :  II.  On  the  Buying  and  Owning  of  Books ; 
III.  On  Beading;  IV.  On  Fiction  (with  a  List  of  a  Hundred  Best  Novels);  V.  On 
the  Librarv  and  its  Furniture;  VI.  On  Book-binding;  VII.  On  the  Makmg  of  Scrap- 
Books;  VIII.  On  Diaries  and  Family  Eecords :  IX.  On  the  Lending  and  Markmg  of 
Books:  X.  Hints  Here  and  There;  XI.  Appendix- List  of  Authors  whose  Works 
should  be  found  in  the  Home  Library. 


New  York:  D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  1,  3,  &  5  Bond  Street. 


THE   PARCHMENT  SERIES, 

CHOICELY  PRINTED  ON  LINEN  PAPER,  AND  BOUND  IN  LIMP  PARCHMENT  A^TIQl'E.    16fflo. 

"  PERHAPS  THERE  IS  NO  MORE  AGREEABLE  SERIES  THAN  '  THE 
PARCHMENT  LIBRARY:  ''—AT HUJY-^UM. 


Tennyson's  **  In  Memoriam." 

With  a  Miniature  Portrait  in  eau  forte  by  Le  Rat,  after  a  Photograph  by 
the  late  Mrs.  Cameron.     $1.25. 
"  An  exquisite  little  edition,  in  white  binding,  and  on  rough  paper.    It  is  per- 
fectly printed,  and  as  fit  for  the  pocket  as  for  the  drawing-room."— ^S^pecto^or. 

Tennyson's  "  The  Princess  "  :  a  Medley. 

With  a  Miniature  Frontispiece  by  H.  M.  Paget  ;  and  a  Tail-piece  in  Out- 
line by  Gordon  Browne.     $1.25. 
"  An  admirably  got-up  edition,  printed  on  the  rough  paper  which  ia  dear  to 
many  book-lovers,  and  bound  in  white  vellum."— /Saiwrc^ay  Review. 

English  Odes. 

Selected  by  Edmund  W.  Gosse.     With  Frontispiece  on  India  paper,  from 
a  Design  by  Hamo  Thornycroft,  A.  R.  A.     $1.25. 
"  A  really  delightful  little  possession,  marked  by  great  knowledge  and  appre- 
ciation of  English  poetry."— Pa/^  Mall  Gazette. 

Shakspere's  Sonnets. 

Edited  by  Edward  Dowden.     With  a  Frontispiece  etched  by  Leopold 
Lowenstam,  after  the  Death-Mask.     $1.25, 

"  A  more  exquisite  edition  of  these  poems  the  book-lover  can  scarcely  desire." 
—Notes  and  Queries. 

Eighteenth  Century  Essays. 

Selected  and  annotated  by  Austin  Dobson.    With  a  Miniature  Frontispiece 
by  R.  Caldecott.     $1.25. 

"  The  cream  of  that  Arcadian  literature,  with  its  kindly  humor,  pleasant 
satire,  and  graphic  description." — Boston  Traveller. 

Of  the  Imitation  of  Christ. 

By  Thomas  a  Kempis.     A  Revised  Translation.     With  a  Frontispiece  on 

India  paper,  from  a  Design  by  W.  B.  Richmond.     $1.25. 

"  The  thanks  of  the  readers  are  due  no  less  to  the  translator  for  the  substance 
of  the  book,  than  to  the  publisher  for  its  form." — Saturday  Review. 

The  Christian  Year. 

By  John  Keble.     Printed  in  red  and  black,  with  a  Portrait  of  the  author, 
from  Mr.  G.  Richmond's  drawing.     $1  50. 

"  The  edition  remains  the  best  extant  of  the  most  popular  of  English  devo- 
tional poets."— PaW  Mall  Gazette. 

[see  next  page.] 


THE  PARCHMENT  SERIES,— {Gontbxued.) 


Select  Letters  of  Percy  Bysshe  Shelley. 

Edited,  with  an  Introduction,  by  Richard  Garnett.     $1.25. 

•'  The  peculiar  virtue  of  his  epistles  is  to  express  ilie  mind  of  the  poet,  as  per- 
fectly as  Macaulay's  express  the  mind  of  the  man  of  letters,  or  Wellington's  the 
mind  of  the  general."- .From  the  Preface. 

Fables. 

By  Mr,  John  Gay.  With  a  Memoir  by  Austin  Dobson.  With  Portrait 
from  a  hitherto  unengraved  sketch  in  oil  by  Sir  Godfrey  Kneller, 
etched  by  Richard  H.  A.  Wills. 

"  They  have  given  pleasure  to  several  generations  of  readers,  old  and  young, 
and  they  have  enriched  the  language  with  more  than  one  indispensable  quota- 
tion."—A.  Dobson. 

French  Lyrics. 

Selected  and  annotated  by  George  Saintsbury.  With  a  Miniature  Front- 
ispiece by  H.  G.  Glindoni.     |1.25. 

The  selection  contains  specimens  of  the  writings  of  French  Lyric 
Poets,  from  the  twelfth  to  the  nineteenth  century,  with  a  Prefatory  Notice 
of  each  author  or  group  of  authors. 

Poems. 

By  Alfred  Tennyson.  "   With  Frontispiece.     Two  volumes.     $2.50. 

These  volumes  contain  all  that  was  published  in  the  original  two  vol- 
umes by  which  Mr.  Tennyson  first  became  known  to  the  world,  together 
with  a  few  early  poems  and  sonnets  not  then  published,  and  "  Tithonus." 

Q.  Horati  Flacci  Opera. 

With  an  Etching  from  a  Design  by  L.  Alma-Tadema.     $1.25. 

The  Sonnets  of  John  Milton. 

Edited  by  Mark  Pattison.  With  Portrait  after  Yertcie.  Antique,  gilt 
top.  $1.25. 
"  A  charming  edition  of  one  of  the  most  remarkable  series  of  poems  in  the 
language  by  the  person  most  qualified  of  ail  men  living  to  be  its  editor.  Mr.  Pat- 
tison does  all  that  we  could  wish,  and  no  more.  ...  If  any  one  requires  either 
more  or  less,  he  must  indeed  be  difficult  to  satisfy."— Pa^^  Mall  Gazette. 


The  Parchment  Shakspere. 

Complete  in  twelve  volumes.  Vellum,  gilt  top,  $1.25  each.  Noii; 
ready. 
The  text  of  this  edition  of  Shakspere  is  mainly  that  of  Delius,  fol- 
lowing closely  the  folio  edition  of  1623,  the  chief  difference  consisting  in 
a  mor'e  sparing  use  of  punctuation  than  that  employed  by  the  well-known 
German  editor.  Wherever  a  variant  reading  is  adopted,  some  good  and 
recognized  Shaksperean  critic  has  been  followed. 


New  York :  D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers  1,  3,  &  5  Bond  Street. 


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